Harry Potter and the Circle of Light
by DarkKing666
Summary: This is the sequel to "Harry Potter and the Ultimate Force." Harry is now off to his second year at Hogwarts, where a new danger awaits. But he has his friends and family to help him, plus a new group of allies - the Circle of Light.
1. Chapter 1: It's Good To Be Home

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Harry Potter or Oh My Goddess.

This is a sequel to "Harry Potter and the Ultimate Force" - please read that story first, as this one will not make a lot of sense without the full background.

* * *

Sirius Black the Third, current Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, stood in front of the fireplace in the Black Manor in Leicestershire, letting the light of the flames show his profile as a silhouette. Clearing his throat, he turned to his assembled guests.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I've gathered you here tonight," he began, his tone of voice slightly deeper than normal. He did not get any further as his prepared speech was interrupted.

"Cut out the theatrics, Sirius, life's too short for your sense of melodrama."

Sirius sighed. "Oh come on, Remus, if ever there was a time for setting a scene..."

"...it wouldn't be now." Remus Lupin said firmly. "We're here for a reason and we don't need your amateur acting abilities to annoy everybody before we even begin."

Sirius glowered at where his friend lounged in a tall wingback chair. With a small grimace he gestured with his wand, causing the lighting in the room to brighten.

"Thanks," Frank Longbottom said from where he sat next to his wife Alice, "that was just a little too dim for my tastes."

"Now that we've dispensed with the melodramatics," Remus said smugly, "we can get on with the meeting."

"Just what is this all about, anyway?" Professor Aurora Sinistra asked from where she was sitting next to Belldandy Morisato née Odinsdotter.

"Fine." Sirius half snarled at Remus, before he turned to the main group. "I'm sure all of you are aware of what happened at Hogwarts this year."

"Yes, that whole mess with the Philosopher's Stone," Urd commented, "did anybody ever get a satisfactory explanation out of Dumbledore?"

"Not really," Frank Longbottom answered, "he claimed that he was protecting the Stone from You-Know-Who, but clammed up when he was asked why he thought a school full of children was a safe place for it. Or even why he thought he could do a better job of hiding the Stone than the Flamels."

"Has anybody asked them about the Stone?" Alice Longbottom asked.

"They've gone to ground," Remus replied, "nobody can find them. I'm guessing that whatever it was that Dumbledore had, it wasn't the genuine article. The Flamels have been alive too long to be that free with the Stone."

"Whatever. The point is that this has made me question Dumbledore's judgement," Sirius interjected, trying to get the conversation back on course, "I have to wonder if he truly has the best interests of his students in mind."

"It is a valid concern," Professor Charity Burbage said cautiously, "but what do you intend to do about it?"

Sirius cleared his throat before he spoke. "I want to set up a group that will keep an eye on what is going on at Hogwarts. The goal will be to make sure that the students are kept safe. With Dumbledore still the Headmaster, I'm not convinced that we can be so sure that the school is being run with the best interests of the students...at the top of the list of priorities."

"Quite." Belldandy said, not looking up from the small piece of embroidery that she was working on. "Considering how many members of staff decided to assist the Headmaster with his gauntlet of traps, it is a legitimate concern."

"We won't be doing anything overt," Remus assured the group, "mostly just watching and being alert. Between all of us we have enough resources and contacts to be able to intervene if something drastic crops up."

Sinistra coughed gently. "That explains why you wanted Charity and me here. We can be your inside people, so to speak."

"Yes, but only as observers." Sirius clarified. "For the most part you'd just be doing your jobs as usual. The only change would be if something like that Stone comes up - I'd hope that you'd be willing to let the rest of us know before things escalate."

Frank Longbottom caught everybody's attention by raising a book into the air. "I'd like to start here and now with a close look at this year's DADA Professor. I've read this Lockhart's books and there are many things in them that concern me."

"Oh?" Urd queried, "Such as?"

"A lot of it sounds like complete and utter bunkum as far as I'm concerned," Frank explained, "plus some of the stories sound suspiciously familiar. I'm going to ask some of my former workmates about it."

Belldandy looked up and graced Frank with a warm smile. "That sounds like a good idea. Maybe we can all read these books and see for ourselves."

"OK, I can work with that," Charity Burbage said cautiously, "and I don't think that keeping an eye on the school is too much of an ask. Does this little club have a name at all?"

Sirius shrugged. "I'm not sure we need one, but I guess it could make things simple in the future if we had a name we could use for easy reference. Does anybody have any ideas?"

There was a small pause, which was eventually broken by Alice. "How about the Circle of Light? We're trying to shine a light on Hogwarts, after all."

The rest of the group all glanced at each other. Remus nodded after a moment. "I see no dissenting votes, the Circle of Light it is."

"Excellent," Belldandy said as she stood, "would anyone like some scones?"

* * *

Belldandy had planned Harry's summer holiday carefully. With two young children in the family, a long trip away from home would be difficult and stressful. As such the family only went on a few short trips that stayed within the British Isles, the longest requiring just two nights away from Hinckley.

While Harry enjoyed these trips, he was equally happy to be at home in Hinckley with his family. He took the time to catch up with his friends from his old school, making a point to practice their music together again. Keiichi resumed his motorcycle lessons, something that Sirius approved of with enthusiasm. Harry found that while his broom was faster, his motorbike offered a different sensation as it was a lot closer to the ground.

His martial arts lessons with Monkey were a lot more intense now, as Harry could only practice his katas while he was at Hogwarts. To compensate for this, Monkey spent a lot more time on teaching new techniques, informing Harry that he would have to practice the katas in his own time. Harry quickly adapted to the new teaching style, having been promised lessons in weapon use down the track if he could improve enough.

"You've done pretty well at keeping your skills fresh," Monkey said as he observed Harry perform a kata, "just remember to put some variation into the katas or you'll end up doing this entirely by rote. You need flexibility in your movements as well."

"Yes sensei." Harry replied as he finished the set and turned to face the Monkey King. "It hasn't been easy, as the school isn't really set up for any outdoor exercises other than the brooms, but I had enough spare time to practice."

"Good." Monkey said thoughtfully. "Now we're going to spend more time on combining your magic with the art. I'll still expect you to be able to fight without your magic, but ignoring it would be foolish. No wands, and tell me why."

"Wands are fragile and easily taken," Harry answered automatically, "a wizard or witch who depends on their wand can be crippled in a battle simply by removing their tool."

"Exactly. Well remembered." Monkey said approvingly. "I've shown you a lot of weapon taking techniques, as well as how to throw a projectile accurately enough that you can disrupt spell casting long enough to close the distance or find cover. Your challenge will be to practice your wandless magic while performing some modified katas that I'll teach you. The goal is to reach a point where you don't have to think about using your magic before you do so. If you need a shield, you will raise it instantly without thought. If an opportunity to use your fetch spells arises, you'll do that. It should be as instinctive as raising your arm to block, or making a strike of your own."

"Yes sensei," Harry replied as he considered what Monkey had said, "I can see this will require a lot of practice."

Monkey grinned. "Exactly. I can see you've learned that you won't get anywhere without putting some effort into it. Now, the first kata is as follows..."

* * *

There were also meetings with his friends from Hogwarts. Hermione Granger and her parents visited Harry in Hinckley just a week after they had returned from Hogwarts. Hermione had explained that they were going to France for most of July, and that she had wanted to visit before they left.

"Have you been to France before?" Harry asked as the small group walked up the path from the Granger family car to the front door of the converted church.

"Once, but it was a few years ago. We're going to some places we didn't visit on our last trip." Hermione explained as she examined the church building with interest.

"The church was unused when we arrived in Britain," Belldandy explained, noticing Hermione's interest, "we were able to purchase it for a relatively low price as the church and attached house are heritage listed and cannot be demolished. All of our renovations had to be approved in advance, something that scared off the local developers."

Hermione started to quiz Belldandy about the church and its renovations as Harry showed Mr and Mrs Granger around the house. Hermione's parents seemed keen to find out just how Harry came to be living with a family that had only moved from Japan to Britain a few weeks before. Harry's hesitant description of his life with the Dursleys shocked them noticeably.

Lunch was held outside to take advantage of the summer weather. Hermione and her parents were curious as to how Belldandy and Keiichi managed to balance the magical and non-magical worlds.

Keiichi explained. "We spend most of our time in non-magical society as that's where most of our friends are, not to mention my job. Urd has her shop in Diagon Alley, though, and Skuld is pursuing her Mastery. So we have friends in both societies, it is just a matter of not talking about some things at times. And keeping the magic around the house to a low level."

Urd nodded as Keiichi paused to take a drink. "He's right. For my sisters and me it is just habit, as we grew up with one foot in each world, so to speak."

"What about education? The curriculum at Hogwarts doesn't seem to be very suited for life outside of the magical world." Mr Granger asked.

Hermione groaned. "Not this again, dad, we've talked about this..."

"I'm just concerned that you'll finish at Hogwarts and have very few options available," her father replied, "it is good to able to have a choice."

"It is a legitimate worry, and one we thought about with Harry," Belldandy put in, "the problem is finding enough time to study everything, as learning magic is quite involved."

Harry caught Hermione's attention as the adults started to talk about possible home schooling. "Do you want to come with me to the Motocross Club this afternoon? You could learn to ride a motorbike."

Hermione looked pensive. "I'm not sure..."

"Come on, it'll be fun." Harry said with a grin. "You may just learn something new."

"OK, I'll ask my parents after lunch." Hermione said before reaching for the salt.

Later that afternoon, Hermione found herself on a trainer bike on the beginner's course at the Motocross Club. She had met a number of Harry's local friends at the club, and had eventually been persuaded to try riding for herself. She had been very reluctant at first, but now that she was riding it was not too bad.

"Come on, Hermione, you can go faster than that!" Harry half-shouted as he passed her by in a blur. Hermione gritted her teeth and accelerated harder. She was not going to be shown up!

* * *

The Longbottoms had insisted that Harry visit their manor for an overnight stay. Their invitation had been extended to Harry's family, as Frank and Alice wanted to see Urd again. This was a source of frustration for Urd, as while the Longbottoms knew just who had managed to repair the damage caused by the Cruciatus curse, Asgard administrators had made sure that she would never get widespread credit for it.

"Hi there, Harry, it is good to see you." Neville said, grinning at his friend from Hogwarts. Harry grinned back.

"Hi Neville, thanks for inviting me."

"It was my pleasure," Neville replied as the two boys turned to see the adult members of the party engaged in conversation. "Would you like to see the grounds?"

"Sure," Harry responded as the two started to walk in the general direction of the rear of the manor.

The grounds immediately behind the main manor building were laid out formally, shifting to what appeared to be natural woodlands with a lake. Neville noticed Harry's appreciative gaze.

"Looks nice, doesn't it? That was all landscaped over one hundred years ago, before that it was open fields. The greenhouses are over here, they're my favourite part of the garden."

The greenhouses were hidden from view by hedges, which had been arranged to avoid blocking the sun. Harry looked in through the glass and noticed many plants that were familiar from his Herbology classes at Hogwarts, as well as more conventional vegetables. Neville headed directly for one greenhouse in particular, holding the door open for Harry as he entered.

"This is my greenhouse, Harry, it's where I grow my own plants."

Harry noticed that the plants inside Neville's greenhouse were not dangerous in any way, unlike some of those in the Hogwarts greenhouses.

"Keeping it safe, Nev?" Harry asked, gesturing to the plants.

Neville smiled. "Yes, mum and dad don't want me to grow anything dangerous without supervision. I grow anything that might hurt me in mum's greenhouse."

"Good idea," Harry commented, "so what do you have growing in here?"

From a distance, Belldandy watched as Neville showed off his collection of plants. Alice Longbottom noticed where her guest's attention was focused and walked over to join Harry's guardian.

"You look like you're trying to solve a puzzle." Alice said quietly.

Belldandy nodded without taking her attention off Harry and Neville. "Neville is looking very happy to have Harry here, but this is obviously something unusual for him."

Alice blinked in surprise. "How can you tell that? From here?"

"He's a lot more enthusiastic than I would expect from somebody his age," Belldandy replied, turning to face Alice, "I'm guessing that Neville doesn't see many children his age while he's at home."

Alice grimaced as she acknowledged the truth of the matter. "Sadly, you're correct. My mother in law kept Neville a bit isolated from anybody except for family while Frank and I were...indisposed. He never really had any friends his own age until he went to Hogwarts."

Belldandy looked thoughtful, before she smiled brightly. "Well, we will have to change that. You must bring Neville to visit our home in Hinckley before Hogwarts resumes, that way Neville can broaden his horizons."

Alice considered it, glancing over at where Frank was talking to Urd, before she nodded her head. "That's very kind of you, I accept the invitation."

* * *

After the Morisato family had left via the Floo, Frank turned to Alice with a determined look on his face. Alice was slightly startled to see her husband look so serious.

"I've got to go out tomorrow. I have to talk to Amelia." Frank stated.

"Alright," Alice said cautiously, "what's got you so worked up that you look ready to launch an Auror raid?"

Frank sighed heavily and picked up a book that had been sitting on a coffee table. "Have you read any of these books by Gilderoy Lockhart?"

Alice looked at the book. "No, I haven't. Should I?"

"I wouldn't bother," Frank replied, grimacing, "for the most part they are just this Lockhart person boasting about himself in wildly improbable tales. But some of his little anecdotes seemed familiar, so I had a closer look. I think I'm going to have to raise this with Amelia."

Alice nodded. "I take it that there's more than just plagiarism going on."

"If my suspicions are correct, yes. I'm hoping they aren't, but if they are..."

"What, do you think this Lockhart has been committing crimes?" Alice asked with a slight tone of incredulity.

"I'm afraid so." Frank said firmly. "Which means that Hogwarts will lose this year's DADA Professor before he's even started. I know that they've had trouble hanging on to them for years now, but this might just take the cake."

"Fine," Alice replied as the two started to walk towards the drawing room, "let me know how it goes when you've seen Amelia."

"I will." Frank answered with a smile.

* * *

Skuld looked at the Weasley family home, which was called "the Burrow" for reasons she did not understand. To her, it looked like a disaster waiting to happen, with extra floors and structures seemingly attached without rhyme or reason. It was obvious that the only thing that prevented the building from collapsing into a muddle of broken bricks and timber was magic.

Frankly the whole structure offended her on a deep level. While she had finally mastered her magic after years of neglecting her studies, she still felt that using magic like this was cheating on a fundamental level.

Still, the Weasleys were nice people. Molly Weasley had invited the Morisato family inside in a way that made them all feel like one of the family. Skuld found herself talking to the family patriarch, Arthur, who had an irrepressible fascination with all things muggle. Upon discovering that Skuld had spent a large part of her youth buried in the latest technology, he bombarded the youngest Norn with all sorts of questions about "elketricity" and "the tee-bee."

Skuld answered patiently, thinking of how Belldandy would behave in such a situation. Skuld's sister had disappeared into the kitchen with her children and Molly almost immediately. Keiichi was talking to Percy, the two having somehow found some topic of mutual interest. The twins, Fred and George, seemed to be amazed that anybody could talk to Percy without falling asleep, but were mostly paying attention to Harry.

The Norn of the Future was also keeping an eye on her adopted nephew, trying to observe how he was getting on with other children. Ron seemed happy to have his friend visiting. Ginny, the only daughter of Arthur and Molly, seemed to be incapable of speech whenever she looked at Harry. She was alternating between embarrassed blushes and hiding her face behind her hair.

Lunch was an elaborate production, even if the table had to be magically enlarged to fit everybody around it. Belldandy and Molly were completely absorbed in a conversation about recipes, the two apparently having bonded over cooking the midday repast. Skuld concentrated on her table manners as she continued to field questions from Arthur. She was not entirely sure that Arthur fully understood her answers as his look of innocent wonder never went away.

When it was finally time to leave, Skuld found that she was exhausted. While she had only really spent the day talking, keeping watch over Harry had been foremost in her mind the entire time.

"I don't know how you do it, sister," Skuld told Belldandy later that evening, "just trying to keep track of Harry and his friends was tiring. How you manage with the twins as well..."

Belldandy smiled. "It will come to you in time, Skuld. And is it really all that different with how you have to monitor Banpei and Sigel?"

"That's different," Skuld objected, "I can always turn them off. Or change their code."

Belldandy just laughed, before she headed off to her bedroom.

* * *

Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Order of Merlin (First Class), Grand Sorceror, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry leaned back in his chair and gently massaged his brow. The last year had not been easy, and the last few months had been particularly trying.

If he was brutally honest with himself he had not been having an easy time of things ever since Harry "The-Boy-Who-Lived" Potter had left the Dursley household to live with his cousins in Hinckley. That had added new variables to Albus' carefully laid out plans, variables that had proven impossible to predict or bypass.

The true extent of how badly his plans had been upset had only truly been evident when Harry finally joined Hogwarts as a first year student. Dumbledore had brought a fake Philosopher's Stone into the school, his intent being to create an atmosphere of intrigue and mystery that would draw any young boy with a taste for adventure like a bee to honey. By making it appear as though it were the real Stone that was being safeguarded at Hogwarts, coupled with a false trail of evidence suggesting that somebody was attempting to steal the magical item, Albus had hoped to awaken in Harry a sense of duty and adventure. The boy would need both in the years to come with the Prophecy that was hanging over him.

The plan would also give the Headmaster an idea of just what kind of a wizard Harry was shaping to be. That would help Albus guide Harry's education and training in the years to follow.

Unfortunately, the bait had proven too effective and Voldemort was a lot stronger than Albus had thought possible. The net result was that the Dark Lord infiltrated the school and had abducted Harry in an attempt to steal the Stone. While Harry and his friends had come out of the experience relatively unscathed, the resultant furore had brought an uncomfortable level of attention to how Albus Dumbledore was behaving at Hogwarts.

Not that he had anything to hide. Apart from his plans regarding the inevitable return of Voldemort, naturally, not to mention the Prophecy itself. Amelia Bones and the rest of the Ministry could prod and poke at how he did his job all they liked, all they would ever find were the same practices that had kept Hogwarts as the world's leading institute of magical education. The very fact that no other magical school in the world had yet to topple Hogwarts from that position was enough to persuade the Hogwarts Board of Governors to give Albus a great deal of leniency when they finished investigating the mess regarding the fake Stone.

It was not easy keeping Hogwarts on top like that, not when there were several other nations vying to have their own schools steal Britain's thunder.

There was a knock at his door, and Dumbledore gestured with his wand. The door opened itself to admit Frank Longbottom, who strode in carrying a large book bag. Albus permitted himself a smile as he rose to greet his guest. Frank was an old ally dating back to the first rise of Voldemort, and a loyal friend.

"Hello, Frank, it is good to see you again." Albus said as the two men seated themselves.

"Hello, Headmaster, nice to see you looking so fit." Frank replied as he leaned back in his chair.

Dumbledore observed his guest closely, noting a slight air of tension. "I gather that this isn't a purely social visit."

Frank shook his head. "As much as I wish it were, not today. I'm afraid we have some serious business to attend to."

Albus sighed. "Well, please don't keep me in suspense. What disaster has befallen us this time?"

"Gilderoy Lockhart," Frank stated simply, producing a book from his bag, "have you read any of his books?"

"No I haven't," Dumbledore said, eyeing the book, "for all that many people decided to send me copies as gifts. With one thing and another I have not had the time."

Frank placed the book on the Headmaster's desk. "I took the time to read everything the man has written after it was announced that he would be the new DADA Professor this year. None of it sat right with me, so I did a little investigating."

"And?" Albus prompted as Frank paused. "I'm assuming that you found something worrisome."

"That's an understatement," Frank replied as he fidgeted, "it turns out that Lockhart has been going around gathering stories from retired Aurors, Hitwizards and explorers. He would get them drunk, memorise their tales and then Obliviate them of both the stories themselves and of meeting Lockhart."

Albus paled. "Obliviating people while they were intoxicated? Was he ever trained as an Obliviator?"

"Yes to the first part, no to the second," Frank answered shortly, "we're pretty sure that many of the people he Obliviated will suffer permanent damage from it."

Dumbledore closed his eyes as he lowered his head. He spoke without looking up. "That you're here telling me this means that he's already under arrest. I hope the DMLE will throw the book at him, I almost look forward to the trial. So I will be in need of a new DADA Professor. And I have just under a month to find one."

"True, but I think I can help you on that score." Frank commented.

This caused Albus to look up. "Oh? You have a candidate in mind?"

Frank smiled. "Yes, he's a retired Auror who has too much spare time on his hands right now. While he isn't looking for a permanent job, he's willing to help you out for this coming academic year."

"Sounds like the right man for the job," Albus said with a smile, reflecting on how...inadequate some of the recent DADA Professors had been, "who is this person?"

"Me." Frank replied, grinning broadly.

* * *

Narcissa Malfoy observed her son out of the corner of her eye. Her husband Lucius had been rather distracted over the summer as the Ministry had conducted a number of raids on the properties of various Pureblood Lords. The Malfoy Manor had been the subject of a particularly thorough search party led by Arthur Weasley, a fact that had aggravated Lucius more than somewhat.

As far as Narcissa was concerned, it all meant that she had more uninterrupted time with her son. She had put a lot of effort into coaching Draco on how to behave like a proper Slytherin prior to his commencement at Hogwarts, and from what she had heard from Severus Snape the training seemed to have paid off. Draco was at least on speaking terms with Harry Potter, which would go a long way towards keeping Sirius Black happy.

Narcissa did not want to see her son thrown out of the Black Family. That would be the kiss of death for any political career Draco might want to pursue.

Right now Draco was carefully writing one of a number of arguments that he had crafted that supported the Pureblood political position. Well, he had crafted them with some coaching from his mother, who had taken care to guide the Malfoy Heir through the process of researching the topic, identifying the relevant facts and then presenting them in a way that would get the audience engaged.

It was still a work in progress as far as Narcissa was concerned. Draco was nowhere near being ready to engage in formal debates outside of his own age group. Lady Malfoy was content with the progress that Draco had made so far, however, as it was a long way from where he had been before Sirius Black had given his ultimatum.

She had been able to teach her son to be diplomatic. If she could do that, everything else should be easy. For the first time in two years, Narcissa felt some of the weight on her shoulders ease. Now if only she knew just what her husband was plotting...

* * *

King's Cross Station was a familiar sight to Harry now, the entrance to Platform 9 ¾ a place that he could navigate to without thinking. He was waiting across from the magical barrier that separated the Hogwarts Express from the rest of the station, standing around sipping some hot chocolate that Aunty Bell had brought in a thermos. As it was a Tuesday he was only accompanied by Aunty Bell, Aunty Skuld and the twins. Harry kept an eye out for his friends while Skuld was watching various magical families pass through the barrier into Platform 9 ¾.

"I swear, if it weren't for the notice-me-not wards, the whole Statute would have been blown away by this place decades ago." Skuld muttered to Belldandy and Harry.

"True, but the wards are maintained regularly," Belldandy replied as she played with her children, "it isn't much of a risk."

"I don't understand why they insist on the train anyway," Harry commented, thinking of something Hermione had said on their return trip to Hogwarts after the Christmas break earlier that year, "wouldn't it be easier for students living in Scotland to go directly?"

"It's tradition," Sirius Black said as he walked up to the group, accompanied by Remus Lupin, "don't try to understand or make any sense of it. A lot of stuff in the wizarding world only happens because it is traditional."

"It is good to see you two!" Belldandy greeted the newly arrived pair warmly. "We expected to see you earlier, were you delayed?"

Remus grimaced slightly. "Yes, we had some business at the Ministry this morning. It should have taken us a quarter of an hour at most, but the red tape tied us up until just a few minutes ago. We apparated as soon as we were clear of the Ministry wards."

"There's Hermione and her parents!" Harry said with enthusiasm, pointing. His movement attracted the attention of the Granger family, who changed direction towards Harry's group.

Soon the two families were catching up on what they had been doing since they had last met. It was not long before they were joined by Neville Longbottom and his mother, Alice.

"Where's Frank?" Sirius asked once the group had exchanged greetings, "I would have thought he'd be here to see Neville off."

"He's busy," Alice replied with a small smile, "he has a new job."

Any further conversation was cut off as the Weasley family arrived, Ron waving excitedly at his friends as they approached. Ginny Weasley still seemed to be incapable of speech around Harry and seemed determined to hide behind Molly.

The group was now large enough that it was attracting attention, particularly as the trunks and some of the clothing looked to be rather antiquated. Remus caught Sirius' eye and tapped his wrist meaningfully. Sirius nodded and stepped into the centre of the group, clearing his throat to attract their attention.

"Ladies, gentlemen, students and the Weasley twins..." Sirius began, getting some chuckles from the assembled group, "it is time we headed for the train. Ladies first?"

Everybody nodded and picked up various trunks and pets, Skuld taking up Hedwig in her cage as Harry grabbed his trunk. The group started to file through the barrier into Platform 9 ¾, Harry hanging at the back with his Aunts. When it was finally his turn, he walked to the barrier with a hand held up in front as if he were parting curtains. This was a trick that Urd had shown him when walking through magical barriers, the intent being to test that the magic was working. It was fortuitous that Harry had heeded Urd's advice, as he found the barrier to be a solid wall.

"What the-?" Harry asked, bewildered. Sirius, Remus, Belldandy and Skuld all looked at the barrier with confusion.

"Let me try that," Sirius muttered, walking to the barrier and putting his hand on it. He frowned as he found it to be a solid wall.

"May I?" Belldandy asked as she approached the barrier with her wand drawn. Sirius nodded and stepped to the side, giving Belldandy free access. She waved her wand over the barrier and frowned, before tapping it sharply.

"Try now," Belldandy suggested. Sirius put his hand back out and found that the barrier was apparently back to normal.

"Right, well let's get through now while it works," Sirius said firmly as he took Harry's trunk from him, "I'll report this to the Ministry later."

Once through the barrier, Harry saw his friends waiting by a carriage that they had picked out. Sirius, dragging Harry's trunk, set off to join the rest of the group at a brisk pace. Harry followed behind, taking Hedwig's cage from Skuld as he did so.

At the carriage itself the students turned to their respective families to exchange farewells. Harry was hugged by Belldandy and Skuld while Sirius and Remus were more content to just clap him on the shoulder. In short order Harry and his friends were on the train and found an empty compartment.

"Where's Ginny sitting?" Hermione asked as she stowed her trunk in the overhead rack.

"I saw her get into a compartment with some other girls her age," Ron said as he helped Neville settle Trevor's cage on the bench seat next to the window, "I think I recognised one or two of them. We can check on her later."

"Sounds like a plan," Harry said after he'd finished settling Hedwig across from Trevor, "we should probably wait until the train is moving."

* * *

Draco Malfoy had made a note of where Harry Potter and his hangers-on had seated themselves. He would pay them a visit later on, probably after the snack cart had been past. In the mean time he settled into his carriage, taking his usual window seat. Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe were sitting between him and the door, leaving the bench across from him empty.

Draco opened the book that his mother had given him at the station platform, but was interrupted before he could start reading by the arrival of Marcus Flint, the captain of the Slytherin House Quidditch Team.

"Malfoy. Your father gave the team a bunch of Nimbus 2001s." Flint said simply.

Draco sighed and closed his book. "Yes, he did. I think you can read between the lines just as well as I can."

"You want to be the Seeker this year?" Flint asked neutrally, a glint in his eye.

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Want, yes. Expect, no. You are free to hold try-outs as usual, Flint, father can't stop that."

Flint frowned. "There's a 'but' coming somewhere."

"Of course. Father won't be very happy if I don't make it onto the team, and might reconsider the broom donation." Draco said simply as he examined his fingernails.

"So you're buying your way into the team." The Slytherin Chaser stated.

"Actually, no," Draco corrected the more senior student, "father is buying me into the team. I wanted to try out this year and maybe get the team some new brooms, everything else was father's idea. Do you want to argue with him?"

Flint hesitated noticeably, before he nodded. "Fine. Be ready for hard practice, Malfoy, you'll need it if you want to beat Potter."

"Don't worry, I have every intention of beating Potter to the Snitch," Draco replied, staring Flint straight in the eye, "it is good to have ambitions, no?"

* * *

Harry Potter sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall of Hogwarts and watched the Sorting Ceremony. The trip on the Hogwarts Express had been uneventful, Harry and his friends spending most of the time playing cards and talking. Ron had eventually left to check on his sister and Harry decided to go as well, mostly to keep Ron company. Ginny had immediately turned into a mass of embarrassment again, much to the amusement of her fellow passengers. One of them, a blonde girl who introduced herself as Luna Lovegood, had been fascinated by the scar on Harry's forehead.

The only other event of note had been the arrival of Draco Malfoy, who had wanted to confirm that he and Harry would be resuming their debates this year. Harry had quickly assured him that he was game if Draco was, and the Slytherin second year had left satisfied.

Watching the Sorting was quite different than when he was involved in it, Harry decided. He had applauded gently when Luna had been sorted into Ravenclaw, but now it was Ginny's turn. The young girl almost ran up to the stool and sat down quickly, Professor McGonagall lowering the Sorting Hat onto the red-head gently.

There was a pause, maybe ten seconds, before the Hat cried "Gryffindor!" The Gryffindor table clapped wildly, Harry noticing that Ginny's brothers all looked slightly relieved.

Dumbledore stood up to give his usual speech before the food was served. It all sounded like the previous year's speech, though this time there was no comment on the third floor corridor. One part managed to catch Harry's attention.

"Joining us this year as the new Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts is retired Auror Frank Longbottom. Please join me in welcoming him to the school staff." Dumbledore said grandly as he gestured to where Neville's father was seated at the staff table. Harry clapped along with everyone else, glancing at Neville. Neville looked gobsmacked, this development clearly taking him by surprise.

In short order the food arrived, and Harry decided to quiz Neville about his father's new role later. He was quickly engaged in conversation with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan as they talked about their respective summer holidays.

* * *

Belldandy glanced at both Sirius and Remus as they settled into arm chairs in her home in Hinckley. "This is about the barrier today, correct?"

"Yes, I need to report it to the Ministry," Sirius commented, "but I don't know what went wrong. You fixed it pretty quickly, what did you find?"

Belldandy pursed her lips. "It was house elf magic. Once I identified it there was no trouble in dispelling it, but it was distinctly house elf magic."

Remus frowned. "Who on earth would tell their house elf to block the barrier at King's Cross?"

Urd looked up from her book. "Or, who would have a house elf rebellious enough to do it on their own?"

"Now that's a worrying thought," Sirius muttered, glancing at the clock. "We have to get going. I'll let you know what the Ministry says, if anything."

"Thank you. We'll see you again soon?" Belldandy said as she rose to escort her guests out.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

At last, the first chapter of the new story. See how I throw entire character arcs into the trash! Goodbye, Gilderoy, I doubt that anyone will miss you very much.


	2. Chapter 2: Back At It

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Harry Potter or Oh My Goddess.

* * *

The first class of the year for the second year Gryffindors was double Herbology with their peers from Hufflepuff. Professor Sprout met them all outside, near the greenhouses.

"Greenhouse three today, chaps!" Professor Sprout said cheerfully, turning and striding off to the named greenhouse. Harry glanced at Neville as they walked past the other greenhouses, noting how his friend was much more animated than in other classes.

Once they were in greenhouse three, they saw Professor Sprout standing next to a bench that was covered in ear muffs. Once the students were all in place, the Herbology Professor gestured to the plant beds behind her.

"We're working on Mandrakes today. Can anybody tell me anything about them?" The teacher began, prompting Hermione to put her hand in the air immediately.

Harry knew a great deal about Mandrake from his lessons with Urd, who had explored the unusual plant in some depth thanks to its use in many healing and restorative potions. He had even helped Urd repot several Mandrake plants in one of the greenhouses that she sourced ingredients from, Urd deciding that the best way to learn about the dangers of the plant was from practical experience. Harry tuned out as Hermione rattled off the properties and dangers of Mandrake in response to Professor Sprout's questions, deciding to examine the Mandrake plants more closely. They looked rather juvenile to him, not being nearly as large as the plants he had worked on with Urd.

"These Mandrakes are still very young," Professor Sprout declared, confirming Harry's observation, "but they are still dangerous. Everybody grab a pair of ear-muffs and put them on. Make sure they're on tight, we don't want anybody hurt! I'll give you a thumbs up when it is safe to take the muffs off."

The class watched carefully as Professor Sprout deftly removed a Mandrake from the soil, then swiftly transferring it to a new pot and covering the screaming root with soil. Once she had finished she turned to the class and gave them a thumbs up. Harry dutifully removed his ear-muffs, as did the rest of the students.

"The cry of a young Mandrake won't kill you, but it will knock you out for a few hours. Let's avoid that, shall we? Make sure your muffs are on securely at all times. Now, four to a tray and let's get to repotting."

Harry found himself at a tray accompanied by Hermione and two Hufflepuff students. The two quickly introduced themselves as Hannah Abbot and Justin Finch-Fletchley. Justin seemed eager to chat about all of the latest gossip in the school, while Hannah just blushed every time Harry looked her way. Remembering how Ginny had been when he had visited the Burrow, Harry did his best to keep Hannah involved in the conversation as they prepared their pots. He had not made much progress before they were told by Professor Sprout to put their ear-muffs on again. The magically enhanced muffs blocked all sound out, making further conversation impossible. Communicating via gestures, the four quickly transferred their Mandrakes into their pots and waved to bring Professor Sprout over to inspect their work. Everybody was dirty and sweaty by the time the class was over, so the students headed back to the castle at a brisk pace to clean up a bit before their next class.

The second year Gryffindors had one more class before lunch, Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. The task for that lesson was to transfigure a beetle into a button, something Harry found quite easy once he recalled his lessons with Aunty Bell. Ron was having a much easier time of it compared to his performance in Transfiguration the previous year, something Neville commented on.

"It's the new wand," Ron explained, gesturing with it, "it is a match for my magic and that makes it a lot easier. The wand I had last year felt like it was fighting with me for every spell."

Once the class had finished they headed for lunch. Hermione was trying to discuss the finer points of the theory behind their first Transfiguration class for the year, but everybody else was still feeling a little tired from the morning in the greenhouse and were only interested in taking some time to recharge before the afternoon's classes. As they sat down to eat, Harry looked at his friends across from him.

"What have we got after lunch?" Harry asked as he picked up a pitcher of pumpkin juice.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts." Ron replied, grinning at Neville. The Longbottom Heir smiled back.

"I'm looking forward to it." Neville said simply as he grabbed the butter dish.

Harry and his friends finished lunch early and went outside into the courtyard to get some fresh air before their next class. They had not been outside for very long before they were approached by a first year student wearing Gryffindor colours.

"Hello Harry. I'm Colin Creevey." The first year said as he came close.

"Hi there, Colin. I think I saw you at the Sorting." Harry replied.

"Really? Cool!" Colin exclaimed, fumbling behind his back before he produced a camera that was hanging on a strap around his neck. "Say, can I get a picture with you?"

Harry blinked. "Er, sure. Why?"

"Just so I can prove that I've met you," Colin explained, "I've read so much about you and I'm a big fan."

"Ah," Harry said thoughtfully, "be careful with anything you read about me, a lot of it is wrong. Hermione can tell you about that."

Hermione looked up when Harry mentioned her name. "He's right, Colin, I read a lot about Harry before I came to Hogwarts. When I checked it with him, a lot is either complete fiction or total speculation."

"Oh," Colin said, sounding disappointed, "can I get a picture anyway?"

"Sure," Harry said, "can you take the photo, Ron?"

Colin was soon walking off with a happy smile, while Harry and his friends headed to their DADA lesson.

* * *

Belldandy looked up as her sisters entered the living room. She glanced at Keiichi, who immediately caught her intent.

"I'll take the children upstairs and read them a story," Keiichi said as he stood up and crossed the room to where Týr and Takano were drawing on large sheets of paper spread out on the floor. After a few minutes to pack up the children's things, Keiichi left the room with his children comfortably ensconced in his arms. Skuld and Urd seated themselves in a pair of arm-chairs across from Belldandy as Keiichi departed.

"Now, what did you find out about the barrier?" Belldandy asked once the door had shut behind her husband and children.

Urd looked pensive. "Not a lot beyond what you already found out. A house elf disrupted the charms on the barrier, temporarily disabling them just at the moment when Harry tried to go through."

"It looked very deliberate," Skuld added, "it would have been a lot easier to just destroy the charms completely and leave the barrier completely disenchanted. Whoever did this wanted to only disable the barrier for a short time."

"So, a house elf intentionally tried to stop Harry from accessing the Hogwarts Express," Belldandy concluded, "which could mean a number of things."

Urd nodded in agreement. "Right. Either somebody ordered their elf to stop Harry, or an elf decided to do it on their own – which seems a bit unlikely."

"Or somebody tricked an elf into doing it," Skuld pointed out, "which could be useful for somebody looking for an alibi."

"Though why anybody would go to that kind of trouble for something as trivial as blocking the barrier to Platform 9¾ is puzzling." Belldandy pointed out. Skuld conceded the point with a shrug. "What about our wards here?"

Skuld pulled out a piece of paper that was covered with complicated formulae that looked mathematical. "That was a good suggestion on your part, big sister. We found signs that somebody, probably a house elf, tried to access our property several times during July and August. I'd be willing to guess that it was the same person who blocked the barrier."

"Or at least was working with them," Urd added, "there's nothing we've found to say just how many people were involved."

"At the same time we have nothing to suggest that there's anything more than just one house elf doing this," Skuld replied, "and I like Occam's Razor."

Belldandy cleared her throat to forestall any arguments. "Let's leave that for another time. We should let Harry know about what happened to the barrier, and that he should be on the look-out for any house elves that are acting suspiciously."

Urd smirked. "That could be a challenge. I don't think I've ever met a house elf that could be considered 'normal' by human standards."

"There is some truth to that," Belldandy admitted, "but it wouldn't hurt for Harry to be vigilant."

"Fine," Skuld said as she stood up, "you'll write the letter, big sister?"

"Of course." Belldandy replied as she stood up and headed for the door, intent on joining her husband and children.

* * *

The Gryffindor Second Years' first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson for the year proved to be very different from how the course had been run before.

"Hello. My name is Frank Longbottom, and yes I am Neville's father. In this class you will call me Professor or Professor Longbottom. You should find on your desk a syllabus for this year's DADA course," the retired Auror said once the class had settled down. Everybody glanced down and saw pieces of parchment that had a broad outline for the course ahead.

Professor Longbottom slowly walked over to a free-standing blackboard at the side of the classroom, speaking as he went. "I am given to understand that the teaching of this course has been a bit haphazard over the past few years. To better understand where you all stand with the material, the first thing you will do is…"

The DADA Professor gestured with his wand and more parchment appeared on everybody's desk.

"…take a quick test on last year's course. This will not be graded, it is only meant to give me an idea as to how far along you all are. You may start now, it should only take fifteen minutes so try to be quick."

Harry dutifully worked through the test, finishing ahead of everybody apart from Hermione. Professor Longbottom clapped his hands to get everybody's attention after a few more minutes.

"Right, finish now. Could you please collect the test papers and leave them on my desk, Miss Granger? Thank you."

As Hermione walked around the desks collecting test papers, Professor Longbottom started to write on the blackboard he was standing next to.

"Now we will spend a lot of time looking at dangerous creatures and how to handle them, but before we start I want to go over the basic rules of wand safety. Everybody, copy this down once I've finished."

Once Professor Longbottom had finished writing, he stepped away from the blackboard. Harry quickly read the list of rules and copied them down. Once he finished he re-read them on his parchment, checking against the version on the blackboard to make sure he had copied them correctly.

The list was not long, with only five rules. They all seemed to be fairly obvious to Harry, as he went over them again in his head:

 _1\. Never point your wand at anything you do not intend to cast a spell on_

 _2\. Be sure of your target and what's beyond it_

 _3\. Keep your wand safely stowed away unless you are about to use it_

 _4\. Always keep your wand in good condition_

 _5\. Learn your spells and understand them before casting_

Professor Longbottom stood to the side of the blackboard and glanced over the classroom. "Everybody finished? Good. These rules were drummed into us when we trained to be Aurors and it is never too early to start. So let's go over these and explain them in turn.

"The first rule should be obvious, but I'll explain it anyway. Magic can be very dangerous, even spells intended to be beneficial can be nasty if used improperly. We should always be careful with our wands, as even adults can have accidental magic episodes under the right – or wrong – circumstances. To that end, you should only ever point your wand at something when you genuinely intended to cast something on it.

"The second rule is related – magic can be dangerous, so make sure you know what you're casting on. You do not want to cast a cleaning charm on an old painting only to find that you've magically cleaned all the paint off the canvas. Likewise, you do not want to hit somebody with a cutting charm that you intended to use on a piece of wood.

"The third rule relates to the first. If you aren't actively using your wand, put it away in a safe place. I have a proper holster to keep my wand stowed, and you'll note that it stays there unless I'm actually casting. I do not want to see people walking around casually holding their wands as if they were just harmless twigs.

"The fourth rule is practical. A wand in poor condition can be a danger to everybody near it, particularly the person holding it. Take good care of your wand and replace it if it gets damaged. You are better off not casting magic at all than risking death or injury by casting with a wand in poor condition.

"Finally, the fifth rule. Know what it is that you are casting before you cast it. And practice! Even simple spells can be dangerous if they are not cast correctly – I'm sure Professor Flitwick has already warned you of the perils associated with the levitation charm.

"Now, before we go on, are there any questions?" Professor Longbottom concluded. Harry looked around the class and saw that everybody was just sitting quietly.

The Professor smiled. "Then let's start on exploring these rules in depth, with a few case studies to illustrate each one. At the end of today's class, you'll be ready for the report I want on each of these rules, why they are important and what the implications are. No more than three inches per rule. So, back to the first rule…"

* * *

At the end of their first day of classes for the year, the second year Gryffindor boys trooped back to their dormitory to relax for the evening. After a full day of lessons that had started with repotting Mandrakes, the boys were tired and anxious to get to their beds.

"I don't recall any of our lessons being this tiring last year," Seamus muttered as he went to his trunk, "even broom lessons weren't this bad."

"I think it was those bloody Mandrakes," Dean replied as he took off his shoes, "even with the ear-muffs it was a lot of effort."

"I think you're right on that, Dean," Harry said as he opened the curtains around his bed, "it wouldn't have been so bad if we just did one, but we were at it for ages."

Ron sighed as he carefully placed his wand in a bedside drawer. "What did you guys think of DADA? A bit different from last year."

Neville blushed lightly as the other boys all glanced at him. Seamus grinned after a moment.

"Yeah, your dad sure knows his stuff, Neville. Pretty strict in the classroom, but I can't say that he didn't have a point about safety." Seamus concluded.

"He was an Auror for many years," Neville said softly, "and I know he's been reading a lot of his old books to prepare for this."

"A long sight better than Quirrell," Dean put in as he grabbed his towel on the way to the bathroom, "if only because he doesn't stutter."

Harry grinned at the laughter Dean's comment elicited, before he looked back to his bed. There was a letter sitting on his pillows, addressed to him in Aunty Belldandy's distinctive handwriting. Harry was not sure why Hedwig would have delivered the letter to his bed rather than to Harry in person, deciding that the best thing to do would be to read the letter in private.

Harry soon realised why the letter had been sent with privacy in mind. His family in Hinckley had investigated the problem with the barrier at Kings Cross Station and had determined that a house elf had been involved. It was not certain whether the elf had been acting on its own or if someone had ordered it to block the barrier. Either way, there was a chance that the elf might try something else in the future. Aunty Belldandy warned Harry to stay alert for any house elves that were acting suspiciously.

This left Harry wondering just what suspicious behaviour in a house elf looked like. He had met a few house elves briefly through his interactions with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, but he did not know a great deal about them. He resolved to ask his family about it, and sat down to compose a letter before he went to bed.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore gently sucked on a lemon drop as he read through the file he had received from the DMLE. It contained all of the briefing material the DMLE felt he should have in the lead up to trial of Gilderoy Lockhart.

Considering that Dumbledore's role in the trial would effectively be that of the judge, the file did not contain a great deal. For the most part it was just the paper trail required to demonstrate that the accused had been arrested according to the legally mandated procedure, had been held according to the legally mandated requirements, and had been charged as per the legally mandated procedure.

All in all, a lot of red tape that served no purpose other than as a way for the DMLE to tell the world 'look, we haven't pulled another Sirius Black here.'

The Headmaster looked away from the file for a moment to regard the view outside of his office window. While the reforms that had followed the "Black Scandal" had been necessary, they did increase the level of bureaucracy involved. Mostly because every Ministry employee involved wanted a paper trail to help cover their rear ends in the event that another inquiry was ever held. The Ministry had seen a significant number of quite senior officials either retire outright or get promoted sideways, as had happened to Barty Crouch Senior. Nobody wanted to end up like former Director Crouch, stuck in a nothing job with no prospect of ever progressing in their career.

Hence the rather thick file that Albus Dumbledore was now holding. A lot of parchment that did nothing much beyond giving a bunch of bureaucrats written evidence that they were not to blame for anything that might go wrong. Such was the price of progress. On the plus side, the chances of anybody slipping through the cracks, as Sirius had, were now so slim as to be non-existent.

Returning his attention to the file, the Supreme Mugwump wondered just what Lockhart's defence team thought it could achieve by challenging the competence of Gilderoy's various victims. Trying to cast doubt on the reliability of their testimony by citing the very damage done by the accused? Albus shook his head.

He'd been involved in the legal system for decades and he still did not understand the legal fraternity.

* * *

The rest of the week passed quietly enough for Harry and his friends, the familiar routine of lessons, homework and all that went with it soon settling in. Harry was looking forward to the first weekend back at Hogwarts, as he and his friends had made plans to visit Hagrid and catch up with what the Goundskeeper had been up to over the summer.

Saturday morning, however, saw Harry being shaken awake at an obnoxiously early hour.

"C'mon Harry, wake up!" Oliver Wood said as he saw Harry open his eyes. Harry glanced at the window.

"Wood, its barely dawn. What do you want at this hour?"

"Quidditch practice!" Wood said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We've got to get started!"

Muttering under his breath about over-enthusiastic team captains, Harry crawled out of bed and found his Quidditch uniform and broom. As he made his way down the stairs to the common room, he was intercepted by Colin Creevey, who was brandishing a camera.

"I thought I heard your name! Want to see some of the pictures I've taken?" the first year Gryffindor said breathlessly.

"No time, I've got Quidditch practice." Harry replied as he headed for the door out of the common room.

"Cool! I've never been to a Quidditch game! You're the youngest Seeker in a century, aren't you?" Colin exclaimed as he followed Harry out of the common room. Harry found himself being peppered with questions about Quidditch from his self-appointed number one fan, the young Gryffindor somehow finding enough to talk about all the way to the Quidditch pitch.

Harry ducked into the Gryffindor changing room to find the rest of the team apparently asleep on the benches, while Wood was standing by a blackboard covered in elaborate diagrams that seemed to describe Quidditch plays.

"Right, I've got some ideas for this year, listen up you lot…" Wood said as he turned and tapped his wand on the board. The chalk lines and arrows started to move as Wood described what Harry thought were overly complicated tactics. He noted that Fred and George Weasley were leaning against each other, half asleep, while Alicia Spinnet was resting her head on George's shoulder with her eyes shut. On the bench opposite them, Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson were slumped against the wall, apparently having dropped off to sleep.

"…and that's it. Any questions?" Wood concluded as he turned around. He did not seem all that impressed when he saw that his team had apparently slept through his lecture.

"Just one. Why didn't you do this last night, when we were all awake?" Fred asked with a yawn.

Harry tuned out the argument that followed, mostly because he could see Fred's point. In short order the team trooped out onto the Quidditch pitch, and got into the air. Harry waved at Ron and Hermione who had settled into the stands, though the sight of Ron eating some toast that he had apparently brought with him from breakfast did spike some jealousy.

Partway into their practice session, George started to look around curiously.

"What's that funny clicking sound?" he asked, slowing down to hear better. Harry looked around and saw Colin Creevey in the top row of seating, following Harry's every move with his camera.

"Isn't that your new fan, Harry?" Fred asked with a trace of humour. Harry just groaned and ran a hand over his face.

"What are you lot just sitting around for? And who is that first year?" Wood demanded as he approached the trio. "Is he a spy for the Slytherins?"

"No, he's Harry's new fan." George said, grinning. "He's in Gryffindor."

"Plus the Slytherins don't need to send any spies, as they've turned up in person." Fred pointed out.

"And in full uniform, for that matter." George noted.

"What are they doing here? I booked the ground for the whole day!" Wood spat out, diving his broom towards the Slytherin team.

Harry followed behind at a sedate pace, landing in time to hear Wood arguing with Marcus Flint, the Slytherin team captain.

"…I booked the whole ground for the day with Hooch, Flint! Your note from Snape means nothing, it is Hooch who controls the Quidditch pitch!"

"We need the time to train our new Seeker," Flint replied.

Harry glanced at the Slytherin team, noting the presence of Draco Malfoy. The Slytherin second year was the youngest member of the squad, and had a neutral expression fixed to his face.

"Plus we all got these new brooms," Flint said with a smirk, gesturing with his broom, "courtesy of a generous gift."

As Flint needled Wood, Draco caught Harry's eye and jerked his head off to one side. Harry walked over to talk to Draco out of earshot of the other players.

"Father bought the entire team a complete set of Nimbus 2001s," Draco said in a carefully bland tone, "so they all felt obligated to put me on the team."

"You don't sound very happy about it," Harry replied, looking at Draco's broom and failing to see anything that differentiated it from his own.

Draco scowled for a moment. "I want to be on the team, sure, but I want to have earned it. More than anything else I want my House Team to win, and we can only do that with the best players being in the team. All I wanted was to try out for the team this year, and hopefully get in. Then Father got ideas of his own, and here we are."

Harry nodded as he understood Draco's point. "Well, it looks like you'll have to practice hard then. Make sure that you're up for the position."

Draco nodded in turn. "Absolutely. But first I think I need to intervene…"

With that the Slytherin second year walked back to where the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams appeared to be on the verge of blows.

Draco cleared his throat as he approached, getting the attention of all concerned. "Captain, Wood there has a point that it is Hooch who decides who has the pitch for practice. How about we go to our team room and discuss strategy while this lot get themselves all hot and sweaty? I'm sure we can get the pitch for tomorrow if we ask now."

Flint eyed Draco carefully, before he nodded once. He promptly turned and stomped off in the direction of the Slytherin changing room, followed by the rest of his team. Draco caught Harry's eye for a short moment before he followed his team mates.

"Right, now that they're gone, let's get back to it!" Wood said with some satisfaction.

"Of course, my captain, but how about we get some breakfast before we all faint from hunger?" Fred asked sarcastically.

* * *

Wood was eventually persuaded to let the team go after lunch, as the female part of the team threatened to tie their captain to the goal posts and leave him there for the rest of the weekend if they did not get some time to relax.

Hagrid was happy to see Harry and his friends, with Neville joining them in time for afternoon tea. The small group in Hagrid's cottage talked about their experiences over the summer, before Hagrid showed the second year students the pumpkins he was growing for Halloween. To Harry's eye they looked to be far too big to be natural.

"Looking good, Hagrid," Ron commented as he inspected a pumpkin that was taller than he was.

"That's what yer sister said ta me," Hagrid rumbled approvingly, "met her jus' yesterday." Hagrid glanced at Harry with a grin. "Said she was jus' lookin' round the grounds, but I reckon she was hopin' she might run inter someone else at my house." He winked at Harry. "If yeh ask me, she wouldn' say no ter a signed —"

"Not another one," Harry sighed theatrically, to the amusement of his friends.

"I meant ta ask yer, Neville, can ye ask yer dad to come down to me 'ut some time? Haven't spoken with 'im since he left the school, be good ta catch up again." Hagrid said as he turned towards Neville.

"I can do that," Neville agreed, "you were here when my parents were at school, right?"

"Sure was," Hagrid replied with a chuckle, before he launched into a story about how he once caught Frank and Alice behind the stables when they were in their seventh year. Harry, Hermione and Ron found it very funny, while poor Neville seemed to want to try and vanish into the background. Unfortunately for Ron, Hagrid segued right into a tale about Arthur and Molly.

After a few more stories from Hagrid about Ron and Neville's parents, the four friends made their wake back into the castle for dinner. Colin Creevey was eagerly showing his fellow first years the collection of photos he had managed to develop already, though few of his peers seemed to be quite as enthusiastic about the "Boy-Who-Lived" as Colin was.

After dinner, Oliver Wood rounded up his team for another lesson on Quidditch tactics.

"After this morning's complaints, and the rather dismal display on the pitch," Wood began with a glare at the Weasley twins, "we'll try this again now that everyone is awake. Now please pay attention…"

Harry found that he was actually able to follow along this time, and took notes on what was expected of him as a Seeker. He just hoped that Wood's strategies would compensate for the speed advantage the Slytherins would have with their new brooms.

* * *

 **Author's notes:** this took far too long. Writer's block is to blame. My apologies.

Frank Longbottom's spiel on wand safety was based on my own experiences of learning firearms safety. Rorscharch's Blot also did something similar in one of his stories, so credit where it is due.

Many thanks to the people at Caer Azkaban for providing ideas and proofing my version of the "basic rules of wand safety."


	3. Chapter 3: Many Events

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Harry Potter or Oh My Goddess.

* * *

Harry Potter groaned quietly as he slowly peeled off his Quidditch uniform. He had just returned to the Gryffindor Quidditch Team's locker room after another round of Oliver Wood's training. Wood had been particularly keen to maximise their training time after he had learned about the gift of new brooms to the Slytherin team. Unfortunately for the other Gryffindor Quidditch Team members, that meant that training sessions were now frequent, and never cancelled for anything. Such as the session that Harry had just left, which had taken place in weather conditions that only just fell short of being a storm.

Driving rain and wind had made flying tricky and hazardous at times, particularly when the Weasley twins could not see the bludgers due to the rain. This had resulted in a few near misses that had even managed to spook Wood, and had resulted in Harry hunting for the snitch at a higher altitude than he normally would have been at. Harry had decided that the stronger winds at that height were not as bad as running the risk of being hit by a bludger that nobody could even see. Because Wood had insisted on Harry not coming down until he had caught the practice snitch for real, Harry was the last person to finish the day's training and he now had the changing room to himself.

After finally removing his shirt, which had been clinging to him by virtue of being sopping wet, Harry sat down on a bench and leaned over to untie his bootlaces. While he longed for a hot shower, he was exhausted and this resulted in a general lethargy. After removing one boot, he straightened up to ease the tension in his back and neck. As he did so, he was confronted by a strange creature that was standing right in front of him. The little creature had large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls.

"Gah!" Harry cried, leaning backwards away from the creature. The creature seemed to shrink back, as if it were expecting to be struck. Harry stayed still for a moment while he caught his breath, and noticed that the creature seemed to not be hostile. Calming a bit, Harry straightened and took a more careful look.

"You're a house elf, right?" Harry asked, thinking of his time visiting the Longbottom Manor.

"Dobby is." The now identified house elf replied.

"Ah, your name is Dobby?" Harry prompted.

"Yes, Dobby is Dobby. Dobby the house elf." Dobby replied.

"Right, well, pleased to meet you," said Harry quickly, "but, er, is there any particular reason you're here? Do you work here at Hogwarts?"

"Oh noes, Dobby does not work at big school. Dobby has come to tell you, sir… it is difficult, sir… Dobby wonders where to begin…" The house elf said uncertainly.

"How about you start at the beginning?" Harry offered.

This seemed to confuse the house elf. "But Dobby does not knows where beginning is!" he wailed. "Dobby is confused."

"What?" Harry asked, perplexed.

"Dobby has important message for Harry Potter." The house elf stammered out.

"OK then," Harry said gently, "What is it?"

Dobby shook his head. "Ah, sir," he gasped, dabbing his face with a corner of the grubby pillowcase he was wearing. "Harry Potter is valiant and bold! He has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later… Harry Potter must leave Hogwarts."

"Leave Hogwarts? What on earth for?" Harry inquired, somewhat surprised.

"There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year," whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over. "Dobby has known it for months, sir. Harry Potter is in peril whilst he is here at Hogwarts!"

"What terrible things?" said Harry at once. "Who's plotting them?"

Dobby made a funny choking noise and then banged his head frantically against the wall.

Then, without warning, he leapt up and started banging his head furiously on a locker, shouting, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"

"Stop that!" Harry exclaimed, concerned that the house elf would injure himself. "What is that all about?"

"Dobby had to punish himself, sir," said the elf, who had gone slightly cross-eyed. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir…"

"Your family?"

"The wizard family Dobby serves, sir… Dobby is a house-elf — bound to serve one house and one family forever…"

"No, which family do you serve?" Harry asked, slightly exasperated. He already knew about house elves and their family bonds from his time visiting the Longbottoms.

Dobby just pursed his lips and looked away. Harry just rolled his eyes.

"Hang on…" Harry said, suddenly suspicious, "were you the one who blocked the barrier at King's Cross?"

Dobby looked guilty.

"Dobby did do that. Dobby wanted to stop Harry Potter from coming to Hogwarts, so Dobby blocked magic doorway."

Harry sighed tiredly. "Well, it obviously didn't work. Why don't you just tell me what's going on and I can let people know about the danger."

At that point, the distinctive sound of a door opening reached the Boy-Who-Lived and Dobby. The house elf stiffened at the sound, before whirling on Harry.

"Harry Potter must leave Hogwarts!" Dobby cried before disappearing with a pop.

At that point, one of the Weasley twins appeared in the locker room. "Oi, Harry, what's taking you so long? I know Wood kept you going for ages but we expected you back in the dorms by now."

Harry shook his head to try and clear it. "I just had the weirdest conversation. Some house elf called Dobby. He reckoned I needed to leave Hogwarts!"

The red-headed twin looked curious. "A house elf, eh? I haven't heard of any called Dobby. Then again, it isn't like we ever see the Hogwarts elves around. Any reason why you had to leave the school?"

"Apparently somebody is plotting to do 'terrible things' here this year." Harry replied as he bent over to remove his other boot. "Any rumours about dangerous mirrors or rooms full of traps?"

The twin grinned. "Nothing yet, but we can ask around. Maybe Hagrid is trying to get another dangerous creature as a pet?"

Harry sighed as he removed his boot. "I doubt a house elf would bother me about that, Fred."

"It's George, actually," the twin replied, which Harry decided meant that it really was Fred, "I'll talk to Fred about this, maybe we can ask around and see if anybody knows who might have an elf called Dobby."

"Thanks," Harry said as he stood up and grabbed his wash kit, "now I'm off to shower before I head back in. See you later."

As Harry showered, he reflected on what he had learned from Dobby. He decided that there was still a lot that he did not know about the elf and why he was trying to force Harry out of Hogwarts, but at least he knew who was behind the blocked barrier at King's Cross Station.

"First chance I get, I'll write to Aunty Bell about this." Harry resolved as he turned off the water and exited the shower in search of a towel.

* * *

Urd was enjoying a quiet moment in an armchair at home when Belldandy approached her, offering a letter. The Norn of the Past raised an eyebrow at her sister as she accepted the proffered missive, noting from the handwriting style that it was from Harry.

"Something important, sis?" Urd asked as she started to read.

"Harry thinks he met the house elf who blocked the barrier at King's Cross Station." Belldandy replied, sounding thoughtful.

Urd quickly read through Harry's letter, lowering it when she finished. She looked up at her sister, noting the slight air of tension.

"Right, so we know that Harry was approached by this elf who called himself 'Dobby.' We do not know how honest that elf was, but let's assume for a moment that is indeed his name. Is there anything we can do with this information?

"Not a lot," Belldandy admitted as she took a seat near Urd's, "but I think we can safely assume that the elf's name is, in fact, Dobby. From what I've heard from Sirius, house elves are not known for being good at lying. The only examples he could think of had the elf's owners ordering it to lie. From what Harry wrote, this elf is probably acting without his owner's knowledge or permission."

"Assuming that it isn't some sort of elaborate plan that throws up smokescreens everywhere," Urd pointed out, "but that level of effort seems a bit out of place. There would be easier ways of getting to Harry than trying to cook up some convoluted series of bluffs and double-bluffs."

Belldandy nodded. "I asked Sirius if he knew of any families that might own Dobby. He couldn't think of any, as house elves usually stay out of sight unless called for directly. Most families keep their elves out of sight when any visitors are around, so unless you are a guest for an extended period you are unlikely to ever meet the house elves of another family."

"And there's no register of who owns which elves, nor any decent information on how many house elves there are in Britain," Urd finished, having already pursued this end at the Ministry.

"So, do we try to pursue this?" Belldandy asked.

Urd paused for a moment before replying. "We'll try, but I doubt that we'll be able to get far with it. Just knowing the name of the elf isn't much of a clue at this stage. It helps, but we don't know enough to use that information properly. Let's just go on as we were, and keep our options open. What worries me is that this elf seemed determined to get Harry to leave Hogwarts because of some plot on the part of his owner. Maybe we should concentrate more on any potential dangers or threats to the school."

Belldandy nodded again. "That seems wise. I will write to Harry and tell him to stay on the look-out for any strange activity."

Urd smirked. "Strange for a magical school, you mean. I'll let the others in our little circle know, I'm sure the Longbottoms will be very interested."

* * *

Harry cursed quietly as he shut the door to Filch's office behind him. His day was not going well. After yet another over-long Quidditch training session in foul weather, he had found upon entering the Gryffindor locker room that Peeves had managed to turn off the hot water to the showers. Unwilling to take a cold shower when he was already shivering, Harry had decided to clean up in his dormitory instead.

His trip had been delayed when he ran into Nearly Headless Nick, who had been complaining about being refused membership of the Headless Hunt again. Apparently the one inch of neck that still connected Nick's head to his body was enough to keep the Gryffindor House Ghost out of the prestigious group. Harry had eventually managed to make an excuse and got away from Nick, only to be ambushed by Filch who had promptly torn into Harry for tracking mud through the halls. Filch had forced Harry to accompany him back to Filch's office for a detention form. While the old man had been muttering about the barbaric torture devices that he wished he could use on students, Harry had noticed a _Kwikspell_ letter on the caretaker's desk. Upon discovering that it was correspondence course to teach basic magic, Harry had been set upon by Filch who accused him of snooping. The upshot of the conversation was that Filch accidentally revealed that he was a squib, something he was apparently ashamed of even if Harry did not care about it. Peeves had taken the opportunity to descend upon the hapless caretaker at the point, resulting in Harry leaving the office without a detention but still sopping wet and covered in mud.

"Hello, Harry James Potter. Do you often wear mud on your clothes?" a young, female voice said from Harry's right. Turning, Harry saw a young blonde girl he recognised from the Hogwarts Express.

"Luna, isn't it? And no, I only wear mud when Wood goes crazy about training in bad weather." Harry said as we walked away from Filch's door towards Luna.

"I see. Personally I only wear mud in summer, and only when hunting nargles in their native nesting grounds. It helps to blend in with the background, and the scent throws them off." Luna offered as Harry drew close.

"I can't say that I've heard of nargles," Harry said, "are they another magical creature?"

"Oh yes," Luna said serenely, "they infest mistletoe during the winter months, so be sure to keep away from it. During the summer they return to their nesting grounds to raise their children."

"Huh. I never knew any of that. So what brings you down here at this hour?" Harry asked.

"Oh, my room-mates decided to lock me out of the common room again," Luna remarked conversationally, "so I'm taking the opportunity to get to know more of the castle."

Harry paused. "Wait a minute, they locked you out?"

Luna just nodded, apparently intrigued by some of the stonework in the wall.

"And they've done this before?" Harry continued.

"Oh yes, this will be the fourth occasion." Luna said cheerfully.

"But if you're locked out," Harry said, "where do you sleep?"

"Oh, there are empty classrooms all over the castle," Luna stated, "I usually use one of those."

"That's not right," Harry muttered, "why haven't you reported this to any of the prefects?"

"I did," Luna said, "I got a detention for being out after curfew."

Harry glowered. "Did you talk to your head of house?"

"I didn't want to bother him with this." Luna explained.

"Luna, this is something he has to know about," Harry said firmly, "let's go and see him now."

"It's a bit late, I don't want to disturb him at this hour." Luna objected.

"That doesn't matter," Harry insisted, "they can't get away with this kind of thing. Let's go and see him right now."

"Shouldn't you clean up first?" Luna inquired.

Harry shook his head. "No, that can wait. I-"

"Ah, Harry, did it work?" Nearly Headless Nick said suddenly, swooping on the pair of students out of a wall.

"Did what work?" Harry asked, confused.

"Peeves, of course. I chivvied him into Filch's office to give you a chance to get away." Nick replied.

"Ah, yes, then it did. Thanks." Harry said distractedly.

"Good, good," Nick said, "I was just wondering…"

"Yes?" Harry asked tiredly as Luna inspected some of Nick's ghostly clothing.

"Well, I was wondering if you might come to my Death's Day party," Nick said, "it will be the five hundredth anniversary of my demise this coming Halloween. It would be wonderful if you could come along."

"Oh, that sounds wonderful!" Luna exclaimed, clapping her hands, "I could write a story for the _Quibbler_ about it all!"

"Um, sure. OK, we can do that. Where is it being held?" Harry asked, watching Luna out of the corner of his eye.

"Down in one of the roomier dungeons, I'll send somebody along to guide you," Nick said happily, "do please extend invitations to Mr Weasley and Miss Granger as well."

"Fine, I'll do that," Harry sighed, "but we need to go and see Professor Flitwick now."

"Sounds important," Nick said seriously, "toodles!"

As the ghost flew off, Harry turned to face Luna fully. "I'll go to this party with you if you come with me and see Flitwick right now."

"If you insist, Harry James Potter," Luna said diffidently.

"Please, just call me Harry." The Boy-Who-Lived said warmly as the pair walked off in the general direction of Filius Flitwick's office.

* * *

The Headmaster gently massaged his temples as he leaned back in his chair. He had just finished dealing with the mess created by the reported bullying of Luna Lovegood. He sighed as he opened his eyes and regarded the small pile of parchment that the incident had somehow created. If he had not known better, Dumbledore would have suspected that the wretched forms had managed to self-generate.

Filius Flitwick was sitting in one of the chairs on the other side of the Headmaster's desk. The Head of Ravenclaw did not look at all happy, and was regarding his own stack of parchment with something akin to resentment.

"…this has been a total fuck-up." The Charms Professor finally said, breaking the silence.

"Filius! There's no need for that kind of language." Albus gently reprimanded his old friend.

"I'm sorry, Albus, but at times like this the language of the duelling circuit comes to the fore," Flitwick stated moodily, "and was I wrong in my assessment?"

"No," Dumbledore conceded, "but there are more politic ways of stating it."

"Maybe, but it won't alter the facts as they stand," Flitwick replied, "I just lost five out of six Ravenclaw Prefects. I don't think there's ever been such a drastic case of bullying at Hogwarts."

"There have been," Dumbledore said morosely, "but this is the worst I've attended to since I first attended. And considering I witnessed the year groups that would give rise to the Death Eaters, that's saying something."

"You're right, I was exaggerating. This is easily the worst that we've caught though," Flitwick pointed out bitterly, "and rare in that it involved the active participation of the Prefects. Normally bullies do their best to avoid authority, this time it was actively aided and abetted by it."

"Very true," Albus said thoughtfully, reflecting on a certain student who had attended back when he had been the Transfiguration Professor, "but I do have to ask…"

"…if this was really necessary?" Filius finished for him.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. Dismissing Prefects from their position is a drastic move."

Flitwick sighed. "We had no choice, Albus. Remember what happened last year between Severus and Mr Potter. Sirius Black confronted you personally over that, and now he is on the Board. If we had not acted decisively, he might have decided that we were not taking our students' welfare seriously."

"There is that," the Headmaster mused, "sadly Mr Black does not seem to trust the way he did when he was a student here."

"With good reason, Albus, his trust was abused terribly. And it's Lord Black now, remember, better not fall into the habit of still thinking of him as the student he was." Flitwick pointed out.

Dumbledore nodded, acknowledging Flitwick's point. "Even so, I think we could have placated the Board without going this far."

"You've forgotten the other interested party, Headmaster." Flitwick said quietly, staring at his hands.

Albus paused, thinking it over. "Who are you referring to?"

"Lorelei Lovegood," the Charms Professor answered, "imagine what she might do if she had discovered that the students who had bullied her only daughter had gotten away with little more than a slap on the wrist."

The Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot paled as he remembered Lorelei's maiden name. "Ah, yes. Do you think that she might have…"

Filius interrupted. "I am absolutely certain that the Noble and Most Ancient House of Stuart would have destroyed those idiots. That's why I had to come down on those idiots like a ton of bricks for their own sake. Else I would leave them at risk of attracting Mrs Lovegood's ire."

Dumbledore hunched over his desk and held his head in his hands. "Do you remember the good old days when all we had to worry about were Death Eater attacks?"

* * *

Hermione sighed quietly and reminded herself to avoid rolling her eyes. Nick's Death Day party was, in her opinion, as close to boredom personified as she had ever experienced. At first she had been willing to go along with Harry after he told her about the event and how he owed the Gryffindor House Ghost a favour. It was only after arriving that she had discovered that this sort of event was, from a social interaction standpoint, a bit "dead."

Hermione kicked herself mentally for the atrocious pun. It was the kind of thing her mother might come up with.

The food had been inedible, as the ghosts apparently preferred things that had been rotting for at least two weeks. This had made Ron cranky, as he was not only hungry but was also keenly aware that he was missing out on the Halloween Feast. The first year Ravenclaw girl, Luna Lovegood, seemed to be unaffected by the dour atmosphere and was enthusiastically talking to any ghost who was willing to talk to her. Given that the young blonde seemed to be interested in the favourite topic of every ghost in the room, she had a lot of ghosts waiting on her every word.

"And then the axe came down, and whack! My head started to separate, but this pesky last inch kept it connected." Nick said to an apparently fascinated Luna. It turned out that there was nothing that ghosts liked talking about more than their own deaths. It made for morbid and slightly gruesome conversation.

Suddenly a loud growl cut through the conversation, bringing the small talk to a halt as everyone turned to the two (living) boys in the room. Hermione stared at Ron, who was shaking his head while gesturing at Harry. Harry, red-faced, raised his hand sheepishly.

"Um, sorry about that. Can we go and get some food?" The Boy-Who-Lived-To-Regret-Going-To-A-Death-Day-Party said plaintively.

"Of course, Harry, it is important for boys your age to get their daily food intake," Luna said brightly, "even if seeing them eat reminds me of a horde of locusts."

"As much as they eat a lot," Hermione said, noticing the embarrassment of her friends, "they don't eat that much."

"I was actually thinking of their legs," Luna replied cryptically, "still at this hour the feast in the Great Hall will be winding down, so let's go and eat in the kitchen."

"The kitchen?" Harry asked as the four students walked off, waving to Nick as they departed. "You know where it is?"

"Of course. Students are supposed to stay out, but that's a rule that just about every member of staff broke when they were students here." Luna explained, her attitude having shifted from bright and bubbly to serene in the space of a few steps.

"Is this the right way?" Ron asked after the group had made a few turns, the Gryffindors trusting that Luna knew where she was going.

"Of course it is," Luna answered as she stared down a crack in the ceiling, "there are more direct routes but this is the fastest."

Hermione went slightly cross-eyed as she tried to figure that one out. "How does that work?"

"This avoids the more cantankerous moving stairways," Luna explained, "these stairways are a lot friendlier and will be where we want them when we get to them."

Harry chuckled. "I've sometimes wondered if these stairs are trying to slow us down deliberately."

Hermione was just about to point out the absurdity of this conversation when Harry abruptly stopped, staring at a wall.

"Did you hear that?" Harry whispered.

"What, mate?" Ron whispered back, looking a little spooked. Luna calmly regarded the wall that held Harry's attention.

"I heard something – talking about killing or tearing." Harry muttered as he walked up to the wall.

"I didn't hear anything," Hermione offered.

Harry shook his head. "I'm sure I heard something," he insisted, "there it is again! It's moving!"

Harry suddenly ran off, the others following as best they could. After a few sets of stairs, they found themselves in the entrance hall, the sounds of the feast in the Great Hall obvious on the other side of the doors.

"Harry, what in Merlin's name are you going on about?" Ron asked, a little out of breath, "I can't hear anybody."

Harry stalked around the room. "It's somewhere here, close by." Harry then ran up the marble staircase that led to the first floor. Hermione followed closely, only to find her friend heading directly for the next flight of stairs.

The four students ran through corridors in the second floor until Luna suddenly grabbed Harry's arm.

"Look, down there," the first year Ravenclaw said firmly, "there's something on the wall."

Hermione peered at the strangely lit patch of corridor as they approached. As they got closer, it became apparent that words had been written on the wall in foot-tall capital letters.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.

ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE

"What is that hanging there?" Ron asked. Hermione looked at where Ron was pointing, noticing first that there was a large pool of water on the floor. When she focused on the wall properly, she gasped. Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.

"Well, that's not something you see every day," Luna mused thoughtfully, "I've never heard of anybody petrifying a cat before."

"Petrified?" Hermione asked.

Luna nodded, pointing at various parts of Mrs Norris with her wand. "Yes, this is obviously not rigor mortis, so the only explanation for her being as stiff as this is that she has been petrified. There isn't much that could achieve this, most petrification potions only work on humans."

"We should get a teacher," Harry suddenly interjected, sounding decisive, "they should know about this."

"I'll go, you stay here," Hermione offered, only for Harry to shake his head.

"Take Ron, safety in numbers." Harry directed. Ron nodded, and set off back towards the Great Hall.

As she walked with Ron, Hermione looked over her shoulder towards the sinister tableau. Luna seemed to be fascinated by the writing on the wall, while Harry looked like he was listening for something.

"This is just bizarre," she muttered to Ron.

"No kidding," Ron replied as they walked down a set of stairs to the first floor, "I just hope nobody tries to blame us for this."

Hermione frowned as she remembered some unpleasant experiences from her old school. "They probably will, just because we found it first."

"Wonderful," Ron griped, "and I'm guessing they'll forget to feed us as well."

"Probably." Hermione replied as they found the next set of stairs down.

* * *

As Hermione had predicted, many members of staff had tried to blame Harry and his friends for the condition of Mrs Norris. Harry had been a little surprised when the Headmaster had put a stop to the blame game quickly and decisively, pointing out that students who had gone to the effort of crafting the scene that had surrounded the petrified cat would hardly report it to the staff. When Nearly Headless Nick and several of the other castle ghosts had informed Dumbledore of Harry's presence at the Death Day Party, the Headmaster had directed his staff to leave Harry alone and direct their energies towards investigating the incident.

This did not stop Mr Filch from being even more foul-tempered than normal.

Dumbledore had asked the four students who had discovered Mrs Norris to stay quiet about the incident, but that did not prevent the student body finding out about it. It was the hottest topic of discussion at breakfast the next day, fuelled in part by the inability of the staff to remove the writing on the wall. As such Harry had no compunctions about writing to his family about the affair.

"What do you think, big sister?" Skuld asked Belldandy as the Norn of the Present put the letter down. Skuld and Urd had already read through Harry's missive, and a small council of war had been called.

"We need to inform our friends in the Circle," Belldandy said thoughtfully, "but the Headmaster has a point. Widespread dissemination of this information could cause a panic which would not be helpful."

Urd snorted. "You're not wrong. Much as I hate agreeing with the old codger, he's a good judge of the magical community."

"Is there any way to undo a petrification?" Keiichi asked.

"Sure, Mandrake Draught," Urd said off-handedly, "I'll start brewing some straight away. It's a universal cure-all when it comes to petrifications, regardless of what caused it the Draught will undo it almost immediately."

"Do you have enough Mandrake to supply Hogwarts?" Belldandy inquired.

"Sure. The European harvests won't be ready for months, but the greenhouses in New Zealand just delivered enough to keep all of Britain supplied for the next year and a half. I got my first crate yesterday, and I've several more on order already. I should be able to get a dozen or so doses to the school by this time next week." Urd stated.

Belldandy nodded. "That takes care of the immediate problem, but we must consider what might have caused the petrification."

Skuld quickly skimmed through Harry's letter again. "Harry said that he thought he heard somebody – or something – talking about killing and tearing before they found the cat. In fact he was following that voice when he found her."

"Could he have been overhearing a person? Maybe a wizard did this?" Keiichi asked.

"Maybe, but it is telling that his friends did not hear that voice," Urd pointed out, "which means that Harry either has good ears or the voice he heard was magical in some way."

"Or that he was hearing things," Keiichi pointed out, only to receive glares from the three sisters, "you can't rule it out."

"You're right, but I'm inclined to think that Harry actually heard that voice," Urd went on, "which gives us a clue."

Belldandy pursed her lips for a moment, before she suddenly stood up. "I just remembered something from our scans of Harry that we made after we first moved here. He had a special magical talent which may explain this."

"We put all our notes on those scans in the filing cabinet under the stairs in the church," Skuld said as Belldandy left the room. After a short delay, the middle sister returned bearing a large folder.

"Let me see…" Belldandy said as she flipped through the pages of notes, all written in Celestial, "here we go. Harry has a talent for languages, and is a Parselmouth."

"What does that mean?" Keiichi asked.

"It means he can understand the speech of snakes," Urd explained, "as well as talk to them such that they can understand."

"So could a snake have done this?" Keiichi said, following the chain of thought.

"Well, we would have to confirm that Harry is still a Parselmouth," Belldandy said thoughtfully, "some of the medical treatments we gave him when he arrived may have changed that. Particularly what we did with his scar."

Skuld looked eager. "Testing for that is easy, we just have to visit Harry and we can do that in less than five minutes. I read about all that stuff for my exams."

"Sirius can get us in," Urd offered, "care to do the honours, Bell? I doubt that I'll be very welcome and they don't know Skuld, so she might have trouble with the bureaucrats."

"It would be easier if I went," Belldandy decided, "I'll talk to Sirius about it."

"If Harry is a Parselmouth, and this was done by a snake," Keiichi put in, "what implications does that have?"

"It means that the school has a Basilisk in it," Urd said, looking serious, "it's the only type of snake that can petrify. Seeing a reflection of a Basilisk's gaze will petrify any living creature."

"Yes, but seeing the gaze itself is lethal," Skuld pointed out, "so why isn't that cat dead?"

Belldandy gestured to the letter. "Harry said there was water on the floor where Mrs Norris was found," she stated, "Mrs Norris could have seen a reflection in the water."

"That makes sense," Skuld replied after a moment of thought, "so our plan for now is to test Harry?"

"And alert the rest of the circle," Urd added, "though we'll have to be careful to avoid panic."

"If it is a Basilisk," Keiichi interjected, "how do we deal with it?"

"The crowing of a rooster kills them," Skuld said decisively, "we should make sure we have some handy if we need to confront it."

"Assuming, of course, that we're right about this and not chasing a wild goose." Urd pointed out with a devious smile.

* * *

Sirius Black settled into his chair next to Alice Longbottom and took a moment to review the small pile of parchment that he had brought with him. He had known that formally accepting the position as head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black would require him to get involved with many organisations that he would otherwise dismiss as being "boring" – particularly when this involvement took time away from more worthwhile and rewarding activities, like pub crawls. He was willing to make the sacrifice, however, as he knew that this was probably the best way he had to help his godson. Sirius had let Harry down badly in 1981 and was determined that he would not repeat the error.

Hence his attendance at this meeting of the Hogwarts Board of Governors. Normally this august body did not meet more than four times a year, and the proceedings related to such mundane topics such as staff recruitment and the budget. Today, however, an extraordinary meeting had been called by Lucius Malfoy to discuss "a potential security issue" at the school. Sirius had already been given a precis of the letter that Harry had sent to Belldandy, which had given the reluctant Lord Black enough time to make a quick Floo call to Dumbledore to clarify the matter. The Headmaster was rather put out that something he considered to be an internal matter, but was grateful when Sirius had offered to help keep the Board under control.

Sirius glanced around the circular table, allegedly inspired by King Arthur's Round Table. The average age of the members had dropped in recent times, with the introduction of Sirius Black as well as Frank Longbottom taking over Augusta Longbottom's position. With Frank currently teaching, Alice was filling in. The rest of the Board consisted of Malfoy and his clique, as well as the die-hard Dumbledore supporters who acted as a neat power bloc that kept Malfoy's influence to a minimum. The two groups were largely equal in size, leaving the Houses of Black and Longbottom as the middle ground. It was a position Sirius enjoyed, as it gave him a lot of power to influence the Board's decisions.

In due course the meeting was in order, and Lucius Malfoy had his chance to speak.

"Some disturbing news from Hogwarts has come to my attention," the Head of Malfoy intoned, "and I see it as my duty to inform the Board."

Sirius listened closely as the "former" Death Eater relayed an account of the incident that Harry and his friends had stumbled into. It was fairly accurate, Sirius noted, but slanted to make it appear as if Dumbledore had been lax with the safety of the student body. While Sirius had his suspicions about Dumbledore's actions, on this particular occasion he had no reason to doubt the Headmaster.

"Thank you for informing the Board of this," the current chairman said, "it is clearly something that we need to be mindful of."

"I feel we should do more than keep it in mind," Malfoy stated, "I am not certain that the current staff at the school are properly equipped to keep the students safe."

"And you would know, from your long experience when it comes to the safety of others," Sirius drawled, earning himself a glare from the Malfoy Head of Family, "I really think you're getting a bit carried away. We have a petrified cat and a threatening message on a wall. Frankly I can think of worse _pranks_ than that from when I was a student."

Alice snorted gently. "Many of which you carried out."

Sirius grinned at her. "Well, perhaps. But as far as this event goes, I think all we need to do is contact the Headmaster to express the Board's concerns regarding the safety of the students. If it becomes necessary to do more, we can arrange to bring in experts to assess the situation."

"I think we should send an observer to the school to keep an eye on things," Lucius began, obviously leading up to suggesting himself.

"For something this simple? Come now, Malfoy, it isn't like anyone has been hurt," one of Dumbledore's supporters interrupted.

"I agree. Besides, if more needs to be done to guarantee the safety of the students, we should send some genuine experts. If one of the Board should go, I think Alice should be our representative." Sirius added smugly.

This raised some eyebrows around the table. "Why Mrs Longbottom? Surely there are more experienced people…" the Chairman began.

Sirius cut him off before the old man could put his foot in it any further. "Of all of us here, Alice is the only one with Auror training and experience. If anyone is in a position to assess the safety of the students, Alice is it."

"While I bow to Mrs Longbottom's training and experience," Malfoy said, apparently through gritted teeth, "the fact that her son is a student and her husband a teacher may mean that she is too close to the problem."

"And the fact that your son is a student and his godfather – and your very close friend – is a teacher may mean that you are similarly close," Sirius replied nastily, noticing the flash of irritation on Malfoy's face, "but if that is a real problem then I'll go. I may not have been an Auror, but I have worked closely with them in the past."

"I think we should table this discussion for now," another Board member put in, "for all we know this is just a prank and the whole thing will just disappear. If anything more serious happens then we can re-visit it all."

"A sound position," the Chairman said, "any opposed?"

There was silence around the table, although it looked like Malfoy wanted to say something. Or curse something.

"Then we will adjourn. I will contact the Headmaster and ask for regular updates in case this turns out to be more than just a prank," the Chairman said as he rose, signalling the end of the meeting.

As they rose from their seats, Sirius leaned over to Alice Longbottom. "We need to get the Circle together to discuss this. I know more, but we can't talk here."

Alice simply nodded in reply as she turned to head for the door, taking care to keep Malfoy within her line of sight at all times. Old habits, it seemed, died hard.

* * *

Skuld frowned slightly as she read the somewhat ancient manuscript that she had borrowed from Sirius' family library. She re-read a paragraph closely, before making a note on the large pad of notepaper she had in her lap. She was taking a small break from her Defence Against the Dark Arts Mastery to try and learn more about House Elves. To this end she had purchased a copy of every book available in magical Europe that even mentioned House Elves, only to discover that almost all of them only discussed them in terms of being animals. To these writers, the House Elf was no different from a Nundu or a Hippogriff in terms of where they fitted into the world.

Considering that many of the magical creatures discussed in these books were sentient, Skuld was a little shocked at the attitude of superiority these authors shared.

Sirius Black had come to her rescue by providing her with older books from his library that were long out of print. While the information was somewhat dated, these texts had the virtue of discussing House Elves as intelligent beings with their own motivations, personalities and feelings. While nobody had ever done anything that might be considered an in-depth study of House Elf behaviour, there were enough anecdotes and accounts contained in these books for Skuld to be able to piece together a rudimentary "profile" of sorts on the average House Elf.

The unfortunate aspect of this was that Skuld was starting to suspect that this line of research was not going to help solve the mystery of why a House Elf had decided to interfere in Harry's life. Skuld's findings were certainly interesting in their own right and were almost certainly a first in the history of House Elf studies, but the Norn of the Future was fast realising that she was trying to predict or understand the actions of an individual human based on a study of the entirety of the species _Homo Sapiens._

Determined, Skuld resumed reading. After just a few more pages, however, she reached the end of the chapter. The rest of the book covered other sentient non-human creatures, so she gently closed the book and stood up to return it to the table she had set up to store her borrowed library.

"I'm guessing that you're not having much luck." Urd said from the door, startling Skuld who had not noticed the presence of her eldest sister until that moment.

"No, I'm not. All I'm really getting from this is that House Elves are as individual as humans are. The only thing they have in common is their desire to serve and belong, and I'm not even sure where that comes from." Skuld admitted as she carefully placed the book flat on the table.

Urd nodded. "I suspected that. But I didn't know, and I don't want to bother the home office for something like this unless we have to."

Skuld stretched her arms above her head before relaxing. "The one thing that I think might help is that there are tales of House Elves working against their families if they have a history of being treated badly. Though considering that maltreatment is apparently not uncommon, I have to wonder why there aren't more cases of House Elves going rogue."

"Maybe the House Elf definition of 'poor treatment' is a lot worse than ours," Urd mused, "or maybe more elves have gone rogue but were crafty enough that nobody ever suspected them."

"It could be either, I suppose," Skuld commented as she gathered up her notes, "at any rate, I'm dropping this line of research. I've gone through every book Sirius has that even mentions House Elves and I doubt that anybody else has anything more comprehensive. Unless we can get at the library at Hogwarts."

"Fat chance of that," Urd said wryly, "not after the way we took Harry out of Dumbledore's clutches."

Skuld grinned at Urd's phrasing. "There isn't much we can do about this Dobby from here. We'll just have to tell Harry to remain alert. But I do wonder…"

"What?" Urd queried as Skuld seemed to hesitate.

Skuld looked a little uncertain, but decided to press ahead. "I'm just thinking that this is a bit of a coincidence. A House Elf tries to get Harry to leave Hogwarts because of some plan to do 'terrible things' there this year, and suddenly we have a suspected Basilisk attack? I think the two are linked."

Urd nodded thoughtfully. "I suppose conspiring to release a Basilisk amongst the student population would be a 'terrible thing' by most standards. You think this Dobby belongs to whoever is doing this and is trying to protect Harry?"

"That's my current hypothesis," Skuld stated as she walked over to join her sister in the doorway, "but there isn't much I can do to prove it one way or the other. I'm going back to my Mastery work, let me know if anything else happens."

"Will do. Good work, by the way." Urd said as her sister passed, eliciting a smile of appreciation.

* * *

 _Another meeting in my office,_ Dumbledore thought to himself, _and with the two loyal Marauders. It seems that Sirius is still watching me like a hawk._

"I just wanted to let you know that Malfoy is already trying to take advantage of that petrification thing." Sirius started without any preamble.

Dumbledore blinked. "I was not aware that news of that incident had spread outside of the school."

Remus shrugged. "Harry wrote to his family about it, which is how we know. Just so you know, we think it might be a Basilisk."

That statement caused the old Headmaster to pale slightly. "That would pose a grave danger to the students and staff. What makes you suspect a Basilisk?"

"Process of elimination," Sirius said simply, "spells capable of causing an enduring petrification like that would be beyond all but the most devoted student of the Dark Arts, so I think we can rule out any of the students doing this. You know your staff best, so if any of them can be considered the culprit just let me know. Potions might be responsible, but I doubt the ingredients required would be extremely expensive at this time of year – so unless they had money to burn, why go after a cat? Any other magical creature would either leave a bite mark, or doesn't exist outside of Greece."

"Sound reasoning, but I hesitate to jump to a conclusion just yet," Albus said musingly, "I suppose the more pressing question is just how did Mr Malfoy find out about this?"

Remus raised an eyebrow. "His son does attend here, Headmaster. He can write letters just as easily as Harry can."

"True enough," Dumbledore conceded, "so what was Mr Malfoy trying to achieve?"

Sirius smirked. "He was trying to convince the Board that an observer should be sent to the school to monitor this situation. I think he was angling to have either himself or one of his cronies assigned here to undermine your position with biased reports. I nipped that plan in the bud by pointing out that it was just a cat and a message on a wall, hardly signs of the Apocalypse."

"I see. Thank you for that. Did the Board make any decisions at all?" The Headmaster inquired.

Sirius' smirk grew into a broad grin. "If anything else happens, the Board will consider sending an expert in DADA to the school to check up. I've already floated the idea of sending Alice, as she was an Auror back in the day."

Dumbledore smiled genially at the news. "It would be nice to see Mrs Longbottom again. I do hope, however, that her services are not required."

"Likewise. Just one thing…" Sirius said oddly.

"Yes?" Albus asked as Sirius paused.

"Last year you had a teacher running around with Voldemort sticking out of the back of his head for months," Sirius stated, "you better be a lot more vigilant about the students' safety this time around, or the Board will be quite upset."

Dumbledore considered the implied threat. "I understand. I trust you can see yourselves out?"

* * *

Ron looked up as the sound of a book being slammed shut echoed in the Gryffindor Common Room. The source of the noise was Hermione, who was staring at her personal copy of "Hogwarts: A History" with something akin to disgust. A quick glance around the room revealed that nobody else had taken any notice of Hermione's unusual action, though that was in part due to the fact that the only other person present was Harry.

"You know, I had high hopes for this," Hermione said diffidently, "after Professor Binns told us the little that he knew about this 'Chamber of Secrets' in that message, I thought I'd be able to fill in the blanks with the most complete history of the school."

Ron smiled slightly. "I'm guessing that it wasn't as complete as you'd hoped."

"That's one way of putting it. It has plenty of rumours and stories, but nothing more than that. There's not even a consensus on whether it exists or not!" Hermione replied, huffing slightly.

Harry looked up from his Charms homework and smiled more broadly. "Well, it is called the Chamber of _Secrets._ If you could just read about it in a book it wouldn't be very secret now, would it?"

Hermione glared at the Boy-Who-Got-Snarky, as if trying to rebut the point by sheer willpower.

"Say, what's that on the window?" Harry said, clearly looking for a distraction. Ron looked over and saw a darkish mass near the corner. The trio got up to get a closer look. Ron paled when he saw that the mass was made up of spiders, all of them clearly trying to get through a small crack at the bottom of the window. He immediately began to back away from the window.

"That's odd," Hermione said as she peered at the arachnids, "I haven't seen spiders do anything like this before."

"Me neither," Harry replied, "how about you Ron?"

"Ron?" Hermione asked as Harry's question went unanswered. The two turned to see that Ron had moved halfway across the room to get away from the spiders.

"What's up, Ron?" Harry asked, concerned.

"I really don't like spiders." Ron said through gritted teeth.

"Really?" Hermione queried, looking surprised, "But you've used them in Potions enough."

"If they're dead I can handle it," Ron answered, closing his eyes and breathing deeply, "but alive, seeing their legs move…I can't stand it."

Hermione giggled at the sight of Ron freaking out. Ron glared at her.

"It's all due to the twins. When I was three one of them turned my teddy bear into a spider because I accidentally broke his broom. One moment I had my toy, the next a writhing thing with too many legs…"

"Hey, calm down. You're safe." Harry said quickly, moving over to put a hand on Ron's shoulder. "Lots of people have phobias, yours isn't unusual and is understandable."

"Sorry, Ron," Hermione got out through giggles. Harry glared at her.

"For your information, when I was still living with my other relatives I was forced to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs. I shared that space with a lot of spiders, and I often woke up with one crawling over me. So I'm not that happy with them myself." Harry stated in an acid tone.

Hermione immediately stopped giggling and looked contrite. "Sorry," she said, and this time sounded like she meant it.

"Forget about it. Let's just get out of here for now." Ron muttered as he turned to the door.

"Maybe we can check out where all that water near the sign came from," Harry said as they opened the door into the rest of the castle, "find out why there was a small flood on the second floor."

"It's worth looking into," Hermione agreed as they headed for the stairs.

"Do you think it might be a student?" Ron asked, earning him some puzzled looks, "this 'heir' the sign mentioned."

"If it were, they'd be fairly senior to know magic that advanced," Hermione mused as they waited for the moving staircase, "at least in sixth or seventh year."

"Heh, I heard some of the Hufflepuffs speculating about the Slytherin students," Harry said with a grin, "they suspect Draco."

Ron snorted. "No chance. Malfoy may be a useless git, but even I can tell that he isn't the type to try something like this. Unlike his dad, Malfoy knows how to be subtle. This is anything but."

"True," Hermione acknowledged, "and if it were one of the senior students, why wait this long? You'd think that they would have done something before now."

"Maybe, unless they were biding their time until they had learned the right spells," Harry pointed out, "I guess we'll find out in due course."

Ron nodded as the trio came to the corridor that still had the sign emblazoned on the wall. In spite of the staff's best efforts, it seemed to be permanent.

"Let's see what we can found out, eh?" Harry said with an easy smile as they approached the sign.

A quick survey of the area led the three Gryffindors to investigate Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, as that was the only source of water anywhere near where the pool had been. Myrtle herself had been distinctly unhelpful, eventually disappearing into the plumbing without revealing any useful information.

"Well, that was a waste of time," Harry said as they walked in the general direction of the Great Hall, "no help from her."

"It explains where the water came from though," Hermione replied, earning her puzzled looks from her two friends, "Myrtle has managed to block the plumbing in that room several times, causing small floods. That must have been what happened this time, it was pure coincidence."

"I guess," Ron ventured, "what about that Chamber though?"

"I'll write to Sirius and Remus to ask if they know anything about it," Harry decided, "they may know more thanks to their time at Hogwarts."

Hermione nodded decisively. "Good plan. For now, let's get some food."

* * *

 **Author's notes:** Another long delay between chapters. I've had a house move to contend with over the last few months, so that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

Many thanks to those at Caer Azkaban who helped to proof this chapter, including those who pointed out that my first version of the meeting between Dobby and Harry was rubbish.

Next time: Quidditch. And Dobby.


	4. Chapter 4: Stoned to stone

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Harry Potter or Oh My Goddess.

* * *

Belldandy counted her stitches on the scarf she was knitting. She was trying a pattern that Keiichi had received from a co-worker, it apparently created a Möbius strip as it was knitted. Keiichi had been enthusiastic so Belldandy had decided to try the pattern out. Skuld was seated on her left, busying herself by reading through the instructions with interest. Urd was sitting on Belldandy's right, arranging a cushion she had brought along on her seat.

"A nice day for Quidditch," Sirius remarked as he settled into his seat next to Skuld. Remus nodded from Sirius' left, his eyes scanning the crowds.

"Quite," Urd replied as she surreptitiously took a sip from her hip flask, earning a sharp look from Belldandy, "I'm looking forward to this. I couldn't get to any of Harry's games last year."

"I was busy with my studies," Skuld commented as she pulled a thermos of tea from her bag, "but my work on my Mastery gives me more flexibility."

"Here they come," Belldandy said gently, having looked up from her knitting briefly, "those brooms the Slytherin team has look new."

Sirius snorted in derision, which caused Remus to chuckle. "Lucius Malfoy apparently decided that his son was the best candidate for Slytherin's Seeker, so he provided an incentive, so to speak," the werewolf noted.

"According to Harry, young Draco was not happy with that," Belldandy replied as her needles clicked gently, "he apparently just wanted to try out this year."

"Hmmm," Sirius mused, looking thoughtful, "that sounds like Narcissa's influence, assuming Draco wasn't just trying to save face. She was always more on the cunning side of Slytherin, and was keenly aware that ambition needed to be grounded in ability."

"Game's started," Skuld pointed out between sips of her tea, "looks like Harry is trying to get in the way of the Slytherin Chasers."

Remus nodded approvingly. "That's a standard tactic for Seekers. The trick is to be able to do that and watch for the Snitch at the same time. If Harry's performance from last year is anything to go by, he's figured out a way of doing that."

"That bludger is behaving oddly," Urd said suddenly, scowling, "it looks like it is targeting Harry to the exclusion of all the other players."

"You're right," Sirius said in an urgent tone, "the Weasley boys are doing a good job keeping it away from him but that's not normal for a bludger."

Belldandy started to lower her knitting before Skuld put a hand on her arm. "Don't worry, big sis, I've got this," the youngest Norn said with a steely look of determination.

Skuld quickly drew her wand from her wrist holster and cast a quick charm at the bludger that was pursuing the Gryffindor Seeker. She frowned as she interpreted the results.

"It has definitely been charmed to go after Harry. I'll fix it quick," Skuld announced as she cast another charm at the rogue bludger. Whatever it was that she had cast made an immediate impact, as the bludger stopped chasing Harry and went back to normal, allowing one of the Weasley twins to send it in a new direction.

"Did you learn anything else?" Remus asked, fingering his wand which he had drawn as soon as he saw Skuld's.

"Yes, that was house elf magic," Skuld stated with certainty, "I'm guessing that the elf who wants Harry away from Hogwarts has decided to be more proactive about it."

"Damn it all, this is getting dangerous," Sirius muttered as he cast his eyes around the crowd, "any chance of finding that elf if he is here?"

Skuld cast another charm, her wand moving faster than the eye could follow. "He's near the entrance to the Gryffindor locker room," the Norn of the Future said, "probably with some sort of disillusionment charm on."

"You three go and catch him," Urd said across Belldandy, "Bell and I will stay here and hold our seats."

The two Marauders and Skuld needed no further encouragement as they quickly made their way to nearest exit. Sirius knew the way to the locker room from his own days as a member of the Gryffindor team and led the group to where Skuld had indicated the elf was hiding.

"Somewhere here," Skuld said suddenly, drawing them to a halt, "let me try something."

Another complicated charm from Skuld revealed a rather scared house elf that was crouching near the entrance onto the pitch. It looked around and saw the group approaching him.

"Stop right there!" Sirius shouted as he started to cast something in the elf's direction. The house elf looked terrified before it disappeared from right in front of them.

"Blast!" Remus cursed as he looked around wildly, "Skuld, is he hiding again?"

Skuld shook her head. "No, he left. It looks like Hogwarts' wards don't stop house elves from popping around. There's no way to track him now, so let's get back to our seats."

Sirius and Remus both looked at each other glumly, even as the crowd cheered at something happening high above their heads. "OK, we can discuss this after the game," Sirius decided as he led the group back towards the stands.

* * *

Sirius Black was in a bad mood as he strode through the corridors of Hogwarts. He had just finished yet another meeting with the Headmaster, and yet again he had come away less than impressed. Though if he was honest with himself, on this occasion little blame could be assigned to Dumbledore.

Sirius had called the meeting to inform Dumbledore about the house elf that seemed to be trying to force Harry to leave Hogwarts. Albus had been receptive to the information, but had not been able to offer much in the way of solutions. The wards at Hogwarts could not be fine tuned to exclude a single house elf without affecting all of them. Dumbledore had explained that he could easily do so on an unwarded location, but adding to the multi-layered and highly complex ward structure of Hogwarts was something the Headmaster was reluctant to do in case he damaged them irreparably. Sirius could see the logic behind this objection, and had accepted the much weaker plan that Albus had come up with as the best available solution.

 _Asking the castle elves to watch out for this "Dobby" is least worst plan at this stage, at least as far as that elf goes,_ Sirius thought darkly as he descended yet another set of stairs, _and the old fart was at least prepared to accept the idea that this elf's actions might be related to that petrification incident._

Arriving at his destination, Sirius Black knocked on the door in front of him. After a few moments, it was opened by Frank Longbottom.

"Ah, hello there Sirius. Please, come in."

Sirius smiled as he entered the office of the DADA Professor, taking a moment to inspect the personal touches that Frank had added to the room.

"I'm guessing that this isn't a social call," Frank said as he sat behind his desk. Sirius nodded briefly as he took a seat.

"No. This is about that petrification incident and that house elf that is targeting Harry. Belldandy has been keeping you up to date, right?"

Frank nodded. "Yes. Nice to be kept informed."

"That was the idea," Sirius noted, "what I wanted to talk to you about was how we might proceed with handling the situation."

Frank leaned back in his chair and stared off to one side for a moment. "Assuming for a moment that Belldandy and her sisters are correct about this being the work of a basilisk, then the most obvious solution is to evacuate the school."

Sirius snorted gently. "Naturally. And I would like nothing better than to do so. Except that I'm almost completely certain that someone is orchestrating this, and will have planned for that already."

"That is a concern," Frank replied, "but I think the risks of leaving students here are out-weighed by the potential risk of alerting whoever is manipulating the basilisk."

Sirius shook his head. "Sorry, I've already talked this over with the rest of the Circle. Alice in particular wants Neville out of here, starting yesterday. But we just don't know what our conspirator – or conspirators – might do if their targets are taken away. Plus there's the political angle, much as it pains me to even mention it."

Frank raised an eyebrow as he looked at Sirius across the desk. "You're bringing up politics? Over this?"

"I have to," Sirius said, wincing, "if we evacuate the school now then Malfoy and his cronies will use that to push Dumbledore out. And while I'm not fond of the old codger, I prefer him to whatever puppet Malfoy puts in place. Particularly if this whole mess is part of some larger plan of Malfoy's."

Frank grinned for a moment. "Aren't you giving him too much credit? How could Malfoy set a basilisk on the students while he is spending most of his time in the Ministry in London?"

Sirius gave Frank a level look. "I think you're underestimating him. Malfoy rose to be part of Voldemort's inner circle, and it wasn't just because of his wealth. Whatever else he may be, Malfoy is a shrewd bastard who knows how to plan. He's never made it a secret that he wants Dumbledore replaced, and I'm worried that discrediting the old man in his own school is part of that."

Frank scowled for a moment, before he nodded grudgingly. "OK, we'll shelve plans for an evacuation for now. But only because we don't know if whoever is behind this hasn't got something worse planned for such an event. As far as I'm concerned the politics can go hang, I'm trying to keep my son safe."

"Hey, I'm worried about my godson, so don't take your frustration out on me," Sirius said placatingly, "now let's try to come up with a plan to deal with the basilisk, OK? Assuming, of course, that we have one here."

Frank looked thoughtful. "The best way to handle it would be to let it hear a cock crowing. Hagrid has several in his collection."

"Good plan, but Hagrid's animals are vulnerable," Sirius pointed out, "he can't watch them all the time. Maybe we should set up our own collection of chickens not far from the school as a backup."

"Hogsmeade, maybe?" Frank suggested, "I know old Aberforth keeps goats, maybe we can persuade him to look after some chickens for us as well."

Sirius nodded. "OK, I'll approach Aberforth and see if I can get him on board. In the meantime, maybe you should get the students to start checking around corners with mirrors. Pose it as a DADA exercise, it'll help to keep the calm."

Frank nodded in return. "That's a good suggestion. I'll ask Alice to find a supplier who can provide the entire school with hand mirrors quickly. Petrification may not be pleasant but it beats dying."

"Fine, let me know what the cost is so I can contribute," Sirius said as he stood up to leave, "and try to work a lesson on basilisks into your plans for all years. Tell them it might appear on the exam."

"That kind of test is usually not accepted in a school," Frank mused, "but it'll be strictly pass or fail. I just wish we could get the students away from here."

"So do I," Sirius said as he moved to the door, "but I fear the consequences of denying our would be 'heir of Slytherin' his or her targets even more."

* * *

Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Order of Merlin (First Class), Grand Sorceror, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry valiantly resisted the urge to yawn as Counsel for the Defence continued to split hairs. The trial of Regina versus Gilderoy Lockhart was proceeding at a snail's pace as the defence worked diligently to empty the defendant's bank vaults. Oh, and apparently they were also trying their best to keep the fraud out of prison.

The trial had been dragging on for weeks as the appearance of every witness turned into a legal duel between some of the best obfuscators money could hire. The problem was that most of the witnesses called by the prosecution had been obliviated by Lockhart at some point, and were giving testimony based on the best memory reconstructions that St Mungos could perform. The defence team had taken the approach of trying to discredit all of these accounts on the basis that such reconstructions were unreliable. This was a rather poor angle of attack, as reconstructed memories had been admissible as evidence for at least two hundred years. Unfortunately for everybody involved, the process required to have the testimony admitted as valid took time.

It helped that independent eye witness accounts existed for many of the tales that Lockhart had stolen from other people for his books. The prosecution had wisely introduced those events early in the proceedings, establishing a pattern of behaviour on the part of Lockhart. By now the defence team was mostly just trying to discredit witnesses out of habit. Oh, and the desire for more billable hours.

For Dumbledore, the whole exercise was deeply frustrating. He had a lot of other, more important things to worry about. Starting with the petrification of Filch's cat and the threatening message that had been left at the scene. While he was not yet convinced that a basilisk was the culprit, he thought that it was at least likely. Particularly when he considered the complaint from Hagrid that somebody (or something) was killing his roosters.

Frankly he wanted to evacuate the school and conduct a full search, preferably with experienced hunters. Unfortunately, he was keenly aware that doing so would play right into the hands of Malfoy and his clique. While he did not have much common ground with Sirius Black, on this topic the two were in complete agreement.

As the defence barrister droned on, Dumbledore discreetly glanced at the clock that was hung in a rather prominent position on the back wall of the courtroom. _Another 10 minutes and I can call this day's proceedings to a close,_ he thought, _thank Merlin for small favours. If it weren't a violation of my oaths of office, I'd add an extra five years to this bastard's sentence just for inflicting this legal drivel on us._

Albus noticed Amelia Bones was fidgeting slightly, a sure sign that she had some procedurally correct way of getting the defence team to shut up for a moment. The head of the DMLE had a small staff to assist her in this trial, mostly looking up procedures so that she could circumvent the worst of the legal wrangling. The Supreme Mugwump was tempted to ask some old friends to help Amelia out _pro bono_ , as anything that could speed things up was worth it.

 _Only three more witnesses to go,_ Albus thought to himself, trying hard to remain positive about the whole process.

* * *

Minerva McGonagall stood stiffly next to the wall as she watched Madam Pomfrey went through the motions of examining her latest patient. Both of them knew that it was more of a formality than anything else as the condition of the student in question was blatantly obvious.

"Well, I can now confirm what we already knew. Colin Creevey has been petrified. Just like Mrs Norris was." Pomfrey finally announced after finishing up the last of her charms. McGonagall nodded and glanced at Professor Sinestra, who was in attendance in her capacity as the Head of House for Gryffindor.

"I have no idea why he was out by himself at that hour," the Astrology Professor said in answer to the unspoken question, "all we know is that he was found by one of the prefects on patrol. The poor boy's camera was destroyed by whatever it was that did this."

"A basilisk. I'm certain of it," a new voice interrupted, startling the witches in the infirmary, "the mirrors in the single-lens reflex camera prevented his death, but the power of the gaze was enough to damage it."

"Sirius Black," McGonagall said through gritted teeth, "I am aware that you are a member of the Board of Governors, but you have no right to just barge in here."

Sirius raised an eyebrow at his old Head of House. "Perhaps not, but once I heard about this debacle I had no choice but to get here immediately. I've already talked to Dumbledore about the damn cat, a petrified student has moved this from 'concerning' to 'catastrophic.' We have to act quickly and decisively, both to protect the students and to stop Malfoy from getting his paws on this school. Which also counts as protecting the students, I suppose."

Madam Pomfrey cleared her throat meaningfully. "I have already sent word to the Headmaster. How did you hear about this so quickly?"

"I have my methods," Sirius said evasively, not wanting to bring attention to Sinistra's membership in his little club, "for now let's concentrate on this unfortunate boy. I am going to assume that you have no Mandrake Draught on hand, Madam?"

"No, and I am unlikely to have access to any until the Mandrakes in Professor Sprout's greenhouses mature," the Healer replied.

Sirius grinned. "Fortunately, I have an alternative. Urd? Would you care to join us?"

Urd sauntered in to the infirmary from where she had been waiting in the corridor. She immediately raised the hackles of the Deputy Headmistress and the Healer, as Urd was dressed in one of her usual outfits.

"Ah, Urd, nice to see you again," Professor Sinistra said warmly, "and in such a fetching dress."

"It is nice, isn't it?" Urd agreed, striking a pose that demonstrated how much leg and cleavage the dress revealed, "but I'm here on business. Lord Black has contracted with me to provide Hogwarts with Mandrake Draught for the rest of this academic year. I have the first thirty doses here, more will be delivered on a weekly basis starting after the coming weekend."

Madam Pomfrey looked shell-shocked. "How in Merlin's name did you get Mandrake roots at this time of year?"

Urd looked smug. "From greenhouses in New Zealand. If you know where to look, you can find 'out of season' ingredients at any time of year. Of course, that can increase the cost."

McGonagall gave Sirius a pointed look. "And how much will this cost the school? You know we rely on brewing most of our own potions to manage the budget."

Sirius waved her off. "I'll cover the cost of this myself. How about we test Urd's potion on the cat first? That should satisfy any doubts anybody may have about the quality of the potion, then we can get this boy back on his feet."

"A sound idea," Dumbledore said as he entered the room, "I have heard much about Miss Urd's potions, I am curious to see one of them in action."

In short order, Mrs Norris was back on her feet and meowing pitifully. The Headmaster glanced at McGonagall, who moved to gather the cat up.

"I'll take her back to Mr Filch," the Deputy Headmistress said, "I know he'll be happy to have his companion back."

Dumbledore moved to let McGonagall out of the infirmary, before he turned to Sirius. "Perhaps we should let Madam Pomfrey revive Mr Creevey in private. Any questions we may have for him can wait until he has a clean bill of health. Shall we adjourn to my office?"

"Yes, I think we should," Urd answered for Sirius. Dumbledore started slightly, as he had not expected the Potions Mistress to join them.

"I think we should invite Frank as well," Sirius added, "his background as an Auror might be useful."

"Very well," Albus said calmly, "let us leave Madam Pomfrey to her patient."

* * *

The atmosphere in the Gryffindor Common Room was tense as the students waited for the school staff to end the lock-down that had all students restricted to their dormitories. Reliable information on what was going on seemed to be in short supply, the rumour mill attributing the heightened security to everything from another troll through to a return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Everybody stopped talking about that one after Harry insisted on correcting everybody, pointing out that the name was actually Voldemort.

"I think it must be this 'heir to Slytherin' person who got Filch's cat," Ron remarked after Neville asked him about the lockdown, "whoever it is already managed to get past the wards once. I figure that there must have been another attack of some sort."

Katie Bell looked a little worried. "Didn't You-Know-Who claim to be the heir of Slytherin?"

"Voldemort," Harry corrected absently, causing everybody apart from Hermione to shudder.

"He did," Neville answered Katie's question, ignoring Harry's interjection, "but if he was behind this, the Ministry would be all over the school already."

One of the Weasley twins nodded sagely. "Quite right, Master Neville, particularly with your dad around. There's no way he would stand for just sweeping things under a rug, so to speak. Maybe this heir is one of the students?"

"That seems unlikely." Hermione decided after a moment of thought.

"Why so?" Dean asked.

Hermione pursed her lips as she tried to frame her argument properly. "Well, if one of the students was the heir, you have to wonder why they haven't acted before. The senior students have been here for years, so why just wait until now?"

Seamus, who had been quiet ever since the lockdown had been announced, spoke up at this point. "Maybe they had to be old enough before they could get to the Chamber of Secrets."

"Maybe," Hermione allowed, "or they could have taken this long to find it. But then that raises the question of what is in the Chamber that would allow them to do all of this?"

"Did you find anything in 'A History of Hogwarts,' Hermione?" Harry asked, knowing that his friend had spent several patient hours reading through the book in its entirety to find any reference to Slytherin's famed Chamber.

Hermione just looked annoyed. "There's nothing but rumour and speculation," she replied, "some historians doubt that the Chamber even exists. Those who say it does disagree as to why it was built or what may be in it. I think it is all just guesswork."

"Let's work from what we know," Alicia Spinnet suggested, "Filch's cat was petrified. What could have been in the Chamber that could do that?"

"Rare spells?" Ron offered.

"Some sort of creature?" Angelina Johnson said thoughtfully.

Fred looked sceptical. "If Salazar Slytherin kept his rare magic in the Chamber, you'd think that there'd be some sort of record of him having used it before he left Hogwarts. They weren't quite so shy about showing off Dark Magic back then. As for a creature, what could petrify something and still be controllable? Strikes me that the first petrification victim should have been the heir."

The discussion was cut off as the door that lead into the rest of the castle opened, revealing Professor Sinistra and Colin Creevey.

"If I may have your attention," the Head of House began, "the lockdown will remain in place until tomorrow morning. Dinner will be served in here tonight, yes it will be crowded when we set up tables so please do your best to make life easy for everybody. The Headmaster will be making an announcement about this whole event tomorrow at breakfast, until then please hold your questions."

After giving a few of the more prominent gossip-mongers a pointed look, Professor Sinistra turned to Colin Creevey and gave him a nod. After Colin gave her a tentative smile in return, the Head of House left the common room. Colin quietly walked over to his fellow first years, trying to act as if he was not the centre of attention for the entire room.

"I'm not allowed to talk about it yet," Colin said loudly as he sat down next to his friends, "the Headmaster wants to make one big announcement later."

With that the buzz of conversation resumed as everyone started to speculate about the recent events. Harry listened to some of the guesses coming from his fellow Gryffindors before he shook his head and stood up.

"We won't know anything until breakfast. I'm going to try and finish off my Charms essay, are you coming Ron? Nev?"

Ron nodded reluctantly. "Sure, might as well. I guess Flitwick won't accept something like this as an excuse for not getting homework done on time."

"Bring your work back down here, we'll work on it together," Hermione suggested, receiving nods in return.

* * *

Sirius Black gave Frank Longbottom a nod as the current Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts entered the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore was already sitting behind his desk, a pensive look on his face as he stared at his shelves of magical instruments. Urd appeared to be ignoring everyone in the room, seemingly intent on staring down Fawkes.

As Frank took a seat, Sirius cleared his throat to attract the Headmaster's attention. "This situation has escalated. When it was just a threatening message and Filch's cat, it could be considered a prank. Now a student has been targeted, and from the looks of things it was pure luck that saved the boy's life."

"I have to agree," Frank said as he leaned back in his chair, "and I'm inclined to believe your theory about a basilisk being behind the petrifications. The damage to Mr Creevey's camera, combined with the two petrifications involving reflective surfaces, makes me think that the most likely cause. I can't think of any other creature or spell that might have the same sort of signs."

Dumbledore sighed heavily. "While I am not inclined to jump to conclusions, you have valid points. The problem is figuring out what to do about it."

Urd snorted gently. "I would have thought the solution was obvious. Evacuate the school and launch a search for the basilisk."

Dumbledore shook his head. "If only it were that simple. This has all the hallmarks of Voldemort's machinations," the Headmaster ignored the way Sirius and Frank flinched at the name, "so there must be some plan that goes beyond simply terrorising the school."

"Considering how Malfoy was so quick to try and make a meal out of this to begin with," Sirius mused, "I'd say that he was behind this. I'm guessing he is trying to force you out of the school, Headmaster. He would then try to either have himself appointed to replace you or get one of his cronies in the job."

Frank frowned. "I can predict how that would go. This school would be exclusively for pureblood students within a year or two at most. Plus it would give Malfoy a chance to try and train up the next generation of Death Eaters."

Dumbledore nodded. "Which is precisely why we need to handle this quietly. I would much prefer to keep the students out of harm's way, but I am worried that Malfoy will exploit the situation if it becomes too public."

"Fine, so we have to keep the current students in danger in order to stop Death Eaters from perverting the school," Urd summarised, mentally cursing the politics involved, "so let's consider how we can minimise the danger involved."

"Have the house elves install mirrors on every corner in the corridors," Sirius suggested, "that way people can look around the corner with only the risk of petrification. We can at least treat that, thanks to Urd's potions."

"The students must be warned, but that'll lead to everyone in Britain knowing about it," Frank mused, "perhaps we teach them all safety procedures without telling them about the actual threat involved."

"Travel in groups, use mirrors to look around corners and so on?" Urd queried, receiving nods from the other three, "that might work in the short term. But the threat must be dealt with quickly otherwise Malfoy will certainly take advantage."

"I suggest contacting some experts," Sirius stated firmly, "nobody in Britain has dealt with a basilisk for at least the last century. But there are reports of them appearing around the world, so maybe we should see if we can find somebody who might be able to hunt the beast down."

Dumbledore nodded again. "A sound plan. I will consult with the rest of the staff, and we will proceed from there. Sirius, can I trust you to start a search for a qualified hunter?"

"Sure," Sirius said as he stood up, "I've got a few ideas of where to start. I'll keep you all informed."

"Thank you. Then shall we adjourn?" Dumbledore said as he rose from his chair.

* * *

The week following Colin Creevey's temporary petrification proved to be very busy for the entire school. The staff had organised a series of lectures that had informed the students of the threat in the school and how to protect themselves. It was now common practice for all students to walk around in groups, and mirrors had appeared everywhere.

The existence of a basilisk in the school had naturally made everyone fearful, so to provide a distraction the Headmaster had persuaded Frank Longbottom to start a duelling club. Professor Longbottom had immediately recruited Filius Flitwick to assist him, and the first meeting had been a success. The students had been awed by the demonstration duel between the Charms and DADA Professors, so much so that there was little resentment surrounding the fact that the rest of the first meeting was dedicated entirely to discussing the rules of formal duelling.

Harry had an additional distraction, as he and Draco had finally managed to organise a resumption in their debates on magical society and culture. The blond Slytherin was now willing to accept Hermione's presence, apparently the Malfoy Heir was able to let her status as a muggleborn go ignored. As had been the case the previous year, neither side seemed willing to concede much to the other, but it was clear that Malfoy was surprised by just how much he did not know about muggle society. For his part, Harry was learning things about the magical high society that Sirius had never even hinted at.

Belldandy had written a long letter to Harry that explained what she and her sisters had been able to determine about the voices he had heard prior to the attack on Mrs Filch. A follow-up test that Urd had administered when she had dropped off the Mandrake Draught at Hogwarts had revealed that Harry was indeed a Parselmouth. Belldandy had explained in her letter that Harry had most likely overheard the basilisk as it moved through the walls of the school. She also cautioned Harry about revealing his status as a Parselmouth, explaining how there was a great deal of prejudice regarding Parselmouths in Britain.

After the initial excitement following the revelation that a basilisk was the suspected culprit behind the petrifications, the student body had calmed down and had managed to settle into the new routine. Classes were still being held, homework still had to be completed and the staff were not willing to accept any basilisk related excuses for not submitting work on time. Harry had become so used to the routine that Christmas came as a bit of a surprise. As he had done the previous year, Harry had signed up to go home for the Christmas break, as had Hermione. Once again, the Weasleys were spending their Christmas at the school. Neville had decided to remain at Hogwarts in order to spend Christmas with his father.

"Be careful," Harry had said to Ron as he had packed his trunk for the trip on the Hogwarts Express, "with fewer students in the castle, you'll have to be extra sure to have other people around when you leave the common room."

"Sure thing, Harry," Ron said easily as he sorted his collection of Chocolate Frog cards, "the last thing I want for Christmas is to wake up in the Infirmary after being petrified."

Neville looked slightly amused. "You seem confident that a petrification is the worst that would happen. You do know that basilisks can kill you if you see their stare directly, right?"

"Sure," Ron replied, "but with every corridor in the whole castle now filled with mirrors, we're safe from that at least."

Shaking his head at Ron's lack of concern, Harry closed up his trunk and cast a levitation charm on it. "Well, I'm off. I'll see you after the Christmas break."

"Say hi to you family for me, OK?" Ron said as he stood up to escort Harry down to the Great Hall.

"I certainly will. You all have a good time, OK?" Harry responded, shaking Neville's offered hand as the three Gryffindors left the dorm.

Many hours later, a tired Harry arrived at King's Cross Station and saw his family waiting for him.

"Welcome back, Harry," Belldandy said as she embraced her adopted son, "I hope you had a good trip."

Harry smiled as he hugged her back. "The train was fine, though it was a little empty with only myself and Hermione in our compartment."

Sirius Black approached, taking care to stand between Keiichi and Lucius Malfoy, who was glaring at Harry's family from the other end of the platform where Draco had alighted. "I sorted out all the presents you wanted to get for your friends, Harry, they'll be delivered on Christmas Day. How about we get out of the cold and get you back home?"

"Sounds good to me," Harry said, smiling at his Godfather as the group walked off towards the exit to the main part of the station.

As Harry walked ahead with Belldandy and Keiichi, Urd gently tugged on Sirius' elbow, increasing the distance between themselves and the rest of the group. "How are you going with your search for a basilisk hunter?" she asked, keeping her voice at a level that only Sirius could hear.

Sirius smiled tightly in response. "I think I've found somebody, somebody from South Africa. The issue is that he normally works on one of the magical wildlife preserves there, and is a bit reluctant to leave for any extended period. I'm due to meet him in person after Harry returns to Hogwarts after Christmas."

"Progress, then." Urd clarified.

Sirius shrugged, clearly hedging his bets. "It's progress of a sort. We'll see where we stand come the new year."

Urd nodded as the pair reached the barrier between Platform 9¾ and the rest of King's Cross Station.

* * *

 **Author's notes** : not much to say, other than a broad observation that getting rid of Lockhart has had more of an impact on the plot than I originally anticipated.

I will comment that it was very, very hard to figure out a reason for why they would not just evacuate the school after discovering that a basilisk was on the premises.


	5. Chapter 5: Something To Crow About

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Harry Potter or Oh My Goddess.

* * *

Christmas at Harry's home in Hinckley was as joyful as ever, with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin joining the festivities at the converted church. Belldandy had waited until Harry arrived home from Hogwarts before putting the final decorations on the Christmas tree she had placed in the living room, resulting in the whole family gathering as Harry placed a star on the very top. Harry had organised his presents in advance with the help of Belldandy and Sirius, trying to get something more personal than he had managed the previous Christmas.

"Merry Christmas, Harry!" Sirius exclaimed as he and Remus arrived for lunch on Christmas day, "here's something to go under the tree."

Harry received the package wrapped in brightly coloured glossy paper with a smile, ushering the pair into the house and heading in the direction of the tree. "Hello, and Merry Christmas. We're all through here in the living room."

The atmosphere in the living room was already very festive and the arrival of Sirius and Remus only added to the good mood. The antics of Týr and Takano, who at two years of age were already talking in short sentences, were the main focus of attention for the family as they celebrated the day. Harry had become accustomed to the loving nature of his new family and was able to throw himself into the festivities with few reservations, memories of his time with the Dursleys now somewhat remote. Belldandy had decided on a roasted goose for this Christmas, the perfectly cooked bird proving to be a hit with everybody present.

In the middle of opening his own presents, Harry took a moment to reflect on the presents he had given to his friends. For Ron he had managed to find a genuine Chudley Cannons jersey – one that had been worn by a member of the team, not just team merchandise. This had been Sirius' suggestion, and at first Harry had been hesitant as it sounded like an expensive gift. Remus had reassured him, pointing out that the state of the Chudley Cannons in the league meant that the market for their memorabilia was fairly quiet.

Harry had sent Hermione a book on spell creation that Remus had recommended as being good for a beginner. For Neville, Harry had found some magical plants from overseas that Urd had checked would not pose a risk to Britain's ecosystem. Sirius and Remus had put together a special package for the Weasley twins that they had promised would be entirely suitable for the pranksters, while Percy had been sent a high-quality set of quills. Harry had been unsure about what he should give Ginny, as he did not know the young girl all that well, so he had sent a box of the best Honeydukes chocolate. Harry had sent Luna Lovegood the same gift for largely the same reason.

Later in the day, Sirius had a private conversation with Remus, Urd, Skuld and Belldandy while Harry and Keiichi were playing a board game with Týr and Takano.

"Dumbledore has agreed to allow a proper hunt for the basilisk. Unfortunately, there are no experienced basilisk hunters available – they're all either too busy or have been banned from entering Britain. One of them was kind enough to send Frank instructions on what to do, though, so we're going to start with that." Sirius said quietly as Belldandy served tea.

"It's better than nothing," Remus mused as he stirred his tea, "and we know what we're up against, so we can take measures to protect ourselves."

Skuld looked doubtful. "Do we actually know for certain that it is a basilisk, though? The evidence suggests it but nobody has actually seen it yet."

"That's a fair point, but at this stage the chances of it being something else are very small," Urd replied, "if it isn't a basilisk then it is something doing a good job of pretending to be one."

Belldandy sat down after pouring the last cup of tea for herself. She focused on her tea as she entered the conversation. "While I'm sure that there is a basilisk, I feel that we are missing something. What happened at Hogwarts this year that has started these attacks?"

Remus caught on immediately. "You're suggesting that there is somebody behind all of this."

"Yes," Belldandy said, nodding her head, "either somebody smuggled in a basilisk or there was a dormant basilisk already at the school that has been set on the students. Either way, this was planned to some degree."

"Lucius Malfoy," Sirius said with certainty, "he's been far too interested in this situation to not be involved, trying to take advantage to get Dumbledore fired."

"How, though?" Skuld asked, "He hasn't been at the school that we've heard about so how would he be controlling things?"

Urd pursed her lips as she thought it over. "Assuming that it is Malfoy, he would have to have some sort of agent at Hogwarts."

"Maybe that house elf who has been going after Harry?" Skuld suggested.

Belldandy shook her head firmly. "That elf has been trying to get Harry out of the school. If he were Malfoy's agent, why would he do that?"

"He might be following orders in unleashing a basilisk, but has decided to save Harry by himself," Remus suggested, "a smart elf can do things like that provided that their master doesn't directly order them not to."

Sirius nodded as he thought of some of the things the house elves of the Black Family had done during his childhood. "That's something worth considering. I suggest we concentrate on getting rid of the threat to the students first, and then find out who was running things behind the scenes. There's too much risk of somebody getting killed if we delay on stopping the basilisk."

"I agree, even if that means the mastermind behind this gets away with it," Urd said with a sigh, "student safety must come first. And there'll always be a next time."

"Which could be good or bad," Skuld pointed out.

* * *

 _Well, I never thought I would find myself hunting for a basilisk within Hogwarts,_ Dumbledore pondered as he took care to walk as quietly as possible, _I wonder if this is a first for the school?_

He was accompanied by Frank Longbottom and Remus Lupin, the latter guarding the rear as the DADA professor regularly cast a charm that would reveal the presence of any reptile within fifteen metres of their position. So far, they had found a few lost pets but no basilisk.

"OK, that's this floor done," Frank muttered as he consulted the map Dumbledore had created for the hunt, "time to go downstairs again."

The Headmaster nodded and silently cast a patronus charm to carry a message to Sirius Black. The current Head of House Black was ensconced in the Headmaster's office and was acting as a coordinator for the hunt. Now that the primary hunting party had cleared the floor, volunteers from the school staff as well as wizards and witches Dumbledore trusted would move in to patrol the floor until the hunt was finished. The idea, as suggested by the professional hunter they had contacted, was to have the hunting party start at the top floor and work their way down, leaving patrols behind to check for any attempt by the basilisk to sneak back upstairs. So far it seemed to be working.

"There is a reasonable chance that the basilisk is currently dormant, given that the students are not here," Dumbledore commented quietly as the group headed for the nearest set of stairs.

"True," Remus replied, watching behind them in a mirror, "but it is a lot safer to do this while the students are away for Christmas."

Dumbledore nodded. It made sense to try this when there were no students around. To that end Minerva had organised for those students who were staying at Hogwarts over the Christmas break to be away on a field trip of sorts while the hunt was on. Albus was not sure just what the students were off doing, though he was fairly sure that Sirius' idea of a guided tour of Scotland's best whisky distilleries was not on the agenda.

The group continued their search, repeating the procedure on each floor of the school. At the end of a long day, they found themselves in the lowest level of dungeons, an area that had not seen use for over a century. Albus felt frustrated, as their search had revealed nothing.

"This is baffling," Frank said as he looked at the end of the corridor that marked the finishing point of their search, "we've cleared the entire school and found nothing. Just where the hell is that damn snake hiding?"

"We even checked all of the secret passages that we know of," Remus added, "and I'm certain that between Albus and myself we know them all. There wasn't even a hint that the basilisk might be using one to sneak in."

The Headmaster pursed his lips as he thought the matter over. "There is one possibility we must consider. While I would normally consider our combined knowledge of the school's layout to be thorough, there is a chance that there are some areas we not only do not know of, but can't access either."

There was a short silence as the group thought it over. Eventually Frank broke the silence with a sigh.

"I suppose you're thinking of so-called Chamber of Secrets that Slytherin hid within the castle?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I know that the Chamber is considered a myth by almost everybody who knows the history of this school. But given the current circumstances we find ourselves in…"

Remus nodded gloomily. "We have to consider it, I suppose. And let's face it, keeping a basilisk in his own personal space seems like the kind of thing Salazar Slytherin would do, if the stories are anything to go by."

"It might also explain some other things," Frank said slowly, "I can easily imagine that anything Slytherin hid would be under heavy protections. Something only his heir might be able to get around. Which might also allow the heir to control the basilisk. Maybe blood wards, tied to the family line?"

"If so, they would not be any type of blood ward I know of," Dumbledore said, suppressing a shudder as he reflected over his own bad experiences with blood wards, "it could easily be something as simple as knowledge that has been handed down in secret."

"In which case, our basilisk-handler might not even be an heir," Remus pointed out, "they could have just stumbled over the relevant knowledge recently."

Frank nodded as he thought it over. "Old Slytherin was a parselmouth, right? Maybe he tied it to that?"

The Headmaster consider the idea as he began to walk back towards the stairs, the others following behind him. "It could be, and that might also explain how somebody might be able to control, or at least direct, the basilisk. I do not know of any sure way of testing somebody for the ability to speak parseltongue, though."

Remus moaned gently as he stretched his arms. "Well, we can think this through later after we get some rest. I know that I'm not up to anymore deep thinking today."

Albus chuckled as they came within sight of the stairs. "I can certainly agree with that."

* * *

The return to Hogwarts after the Christmas break saw Harry and his friends almost buried in homework. The result was that most evenings saw most of the second year Gryffindor students gathered around one of the tables in the common room, writing inch after inch on obscure pieces of magical theory while occasionally swapping tips and ideas. Harry had shown his room-mates the advantages of getting it all done early in order to have more free time later, though Hermione was still slightly miffed that nobody thought that her idea of using their spare time for more study was a good one.

In spite of the increase in the amount of homework assigned by their teachers, Harry and Draco managed to resume their long overdue debates on the society and culture of the magical world. The sessions flowed well, with no animosity being demonstrated in spite of the personalities involved. Hermione had commented that the meetings between Harry and Draco were rapidly changing from debates to simple information exchanges, with both sides educating the other. Harry was learning more about the world he had entered than he had imagined possible, while Draco was discovering that his notions regarding the non-magical world were wildly inaccurate and out of date.

Harry was returning to the Gryffindor dormitories with Hermione, Ron and Neville after one such debate when the group noticed that the floor near Moaning Myrtle's bathroom had flooded again.

"Seriously? You'd think Myrtle had nothing better to do than block the plumbing." Ron commented as they approached.

"Oh that's typical, always blaming me!" the over-emotional ghost cried as she appeared through the door, "This time it wasn't me. Somebody threw a book into my loo!"

"A book? That's outrageous!" Hermione declared, obviously incensed at the desecration of valuable reading material, "let's go and get it out and see if it can be repaired."

Hermione strode purposefully into the bathroom, her male friends trailing behind a little nervously. For all that it was rarely used thanks to Myrtle's presence, it was still a _girls'_ bathroom.

" _Accio_ book!" Hermione cast at Myrtle's toilet, causing a small, thin black book with a shabby cover to come flying out of the water. Hermione dodged and the book impacted the mirror behind her with a splat, falling into a sink.

"Huh. No title that I can see, and it isn't in the best shape," Neville said as he eyed the book, "it looks like one of those cheap diaries that you can get for couple of sickles in Flourish and Blotts."

Hermione cast a succession of charms at the book, drying it off and cleaning it. After satisfying herself that it was clean enough to handle, Hermione reached for the book.

"Hey, don't touch it! It could be dangerous!" Ron cried out, grabbing Hermione's arm before she could grab the book.

Hermione glared at Ron until he released her arm. "Just how could a book be dangerous?" she demanded.

"Some magical books are cursed to protect them," Ron replied defensively, "dad told me about one he had to deal with, it would burn out the eyes of anyone who read it without casting the right counter-curse first."

"He's right, Hermione," Neville put in, "it's always a good idea to be careful around any magical book you know nothing about."

"We don't even know that it is magical!" Hermione objected. Harry shrugged in response.

"Well, it seems to have survived the dip into the water fairly well," he said, "I'm pretty sure most of my books would be soggy lumps after that, even if you'd tried your drying charms."

Hermione blinked as she thought it over. "Well, we aren't going to learn anything about it from here," she declared before snatching the book up from the sink. At a closer range the second year students could see that the cover had a date on it that indicated it was fifty years old. Opening the front cover, the name "T M. Riddle" could just be made out on the first page.

"I know that name from somewhere," Hermione muttered as she looked at the name, "but I can't think where from."

Neville suddenly reached out and closed the book, firmly taking it from Hermione. "We'll take it to my father. He'll know what to do with it."

"But-" Hermione started to object, only to be cut off by Neville.

"It's an enchanted book of some sort we know nothing about, which just happens to have been abandoned in the bathroom where the first petrification took place. I'm not taking any chances, and dad knows how to handle things like this from when he was an Auror. So let's go."

Hermione was obviously unhappy about Neville's idea, but any further protest was ended when Harry stepped up next to Neville.

"He's right, Hermione," Harry explained gently, calming his fellow Gryffindor, "we haven't been through the type of training Professor Longbottom has. We'll let him sort it out, if it turns out to be an old diary with a preservation charm on it then there's no harm done. If it is something more unpleasant, though…"

"Fine," Hermione snapped, obviously annoyed with the whole affair, "let's go then."

* * *

Frank Longbottom examined the diary he had been given by Neville and his friends. On the face of it, it did not seem like anything important. If it had not been for the circumstances in which it had been found, the former Auror would have dismissed it as nothing but a minor curiosity, left behind by a student from before his own time.

It was those circumstances, however, that had his old investigative side twitching. That the diary had been found in the very bathroom that had been the site of the first attack by the suspected basilisk made Frank very suspicious. The bathroom in question had gone unused since Mrs Norris had been found petrified outside of it, the student body as a whole apparently not wanting to tempt fate. So if somebody wanted to get rid of an enchanted diary like the one currently sitting on his desk, choosing that place seemed a little odd. There would have been easier and more convenient places to dispose of it, though Frank had to admit that Moaning Myrtle's bathroom did offer the advantage of privacy.

Then there was the name on the diary. When investigating the petrifications and the possible causes, Frank Longbottom had looked into the history of Hogwarts to try and find any similar events. The closest he had been able to find had been the incident that had resulted in Hagrid being expelled in the 1940s. The current DADA Professor had filed the incident away as useful background information, even if the events in 1942 and 1943 had been blamed on Hagrid's pet Acromantula. What attracted Frank's attention now was the name "T M. Riddle" on the diary. Considering the apparent age of the diary itself, the most likely identity for the original owner was the same person who had accused Hagrid of being behind the attacks in the 40s.

Frank Longbottom did not believe in coincidences. Particularly since the preservation charms that the diary apparently had were a lot more than he would have expected for a cheap diary. Frank's suspicion was only raised when he had opened the diary and had found it remarkably empty of any entries. Diagnostic charms had failed to reveal anything regarding the magic that been placed on the diary, something that only increased Frank's suspicion further. The diary needed to be looked into in more depth, if only to eliminate any chance that it might be linked to the current attacks at Hogwarts. The only question to be answered was who should investigate. Professor Longbottom was keenly aware that he had reached the end of what he could do by himself, particularly since he was also actively working on the threat of the apparent basilisk.

The DADA Professor first thought of Dumbledore. There was no doubt in Frank's mind that the Headmaster was one of the world's most knowledgeable wizards, an apparent expert on so many fields and disciplines that it sometimes seemed like there was little that he did not know. Any plan to take the diary to the Supreme Mugwump was quickly put to rest after Frank reminded himself of just why he had agreed to join Sirius' "Circle of Light" – the Headmaster had not covered himself with glory after the mess regarding the Philosopher's Stone had become public. The man had seemingly put the entire school in danger by hiding an insanely valuable magical item in Hogwarts, and there was still no satisfactory explanation from Dumbledore as to why he had done it in the first place.

"Maybe the Department of Mysteries…but they'd probably just squirrel it away and we'd never hear of it again." Frank mused as he regarded the diary with half an eye. After a few more minutes, he resigned himself to a conclusion that had been increasingly more inevitable as he had thought the matter over.

"Bugger it then, time to call Black," the DADA Professor muttered as he stood up and walked to the fireplace, "if nothing else he might suggest an expert of his own."

* * *

In the converted church in Hinckley, an old diary that once belonged to "T M. Riddle" was the subject of close examination by the three Norns.

"Well," Skuld stated as her computer interface finished its scan, "it's definitely a horcrux. And it's from the same soul that the piece we extracted from Harry's scar was from."

Urd scowled as she looked at the results on Skuld's screen. Belldandy continued to examine the diary closely, clearly unhappy.

"Well," the Norn of the Past said, "I think this might go some way to explaining the recent events at Hogwarts."

Belldandy turned her gaze to her older sister. "You think that this horcrux may have been influencing somebody to carry out the attacks?"

Skuld's eyes widened as results from the scan continued to spool across her screen. "It may be worse than that. These readings indicate that this… _thing_ may have been trying to _possess_ someone. I can only guess as to how."

Urd looked furious as she glared at the diary. "Every page of this book is blank. My guess is that if you write in it, the soul fragment has some way of talking back. Not that we should try experimenting to find out."

"A partially possessed person could be influenced to do the bidding of the soul fragment," Belldandy mused, turning her gaze to a corner of the room, "I would think that the victim in this case is probably quite young."

"It smacks of a certain amount of naivety, doesn't it?" Urd asked rhetorically. "Though we can't be certain without scanning everybody at Hogwarts."

"What do we do now?" Skuld asked as the last of the results of her scan finished scrolling across her screen. "Can we use this to help stop the basilisk attacks?"

Belldandy returned her attention to her sisters. "Without the diary to influence their actions, the person who was releasing the basilisk will probably stop and return to normal."

"We can't be sure of that," Urd argued, "we have to know just how far that possession had gone."

Skuld cued up the full results of her scan, creating dozens of holographic screens in the air around the sisters. "Here's everything I got from the diary. Is there anything in here that might tell us one way or the other?"

Urd and Belldandy started to examine the data, each taking notes on their own virtual computers.

"This is fairly conclusive," Belldandy finally stated, "the possession had not progressed far enough to have any permanent influence on the victim. The fact that the victim managed to throw the diary away supports this data from your scan."

"True," Urd added, "but there may be some lingering effects that could be trouble down the road. We'll need to figure out some way of identifying the victim and making sure that there's no permanent damage."

Skuld suddenly highlighted a section of the results and enlarged the field for her sisters to examine. "This bit is puzzling. Why so much emphasis on language skill transfer so early on?"

Urd and Belldandy exchanged glances, before they both spoke in unison. "Parseltongue."

Skuld groaned as the answer became obvious. "Naturally. The victim would need that to control the basilisk."

"It might also have been necessary to access it," Belldandy said speculatively, "remember what Remus said about the myths surrounding Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets? If this Riddle person was a parselmouth, they might have been able to access that Chamber thanks to a parseltongue password ward."

"Or Riddle might have created their own hidden room with a similar password," Urd pointed out, "either way, there's a chance that the basilisk is hidden in a place that can only be accessed by parselmouths."

Skuld looked sceptical. "That's a bit of an assumption, isn't it?"

Urd shrugged. "Yes, but it would fit. Still, this gives us a starting point."

"What do you mean?" Skuld asked as she shut down her computer displays.

"The search for the basilisk found nothing," Belldandy explained, "but if there was a hidden area within the school that could only be accessed by somebody who had specific skills or knowledge…"

"…then the search parties never had a chance." Urd finished for her sister. "But now that we know about the possible parseltongue element, we can run a new search, this time looking for wards that hide doors or other entrances."

Skuld looked thoughtful as she considered the idea. "The school is back in session, though. Can we run a full search with all the students in residence?"

"We may not have to," Belldandy replied, "this diary was found in the same bathroom that was the apparent location for the first basilisk attack. If we start from there and then work our way out to the other locations of attacks, we can focus our search more tightly."

Urd raised her arms above her head as she stretched. "Or rather, our friends in the Circle can. I think it would be best if we didn't go to the school ourselves, it isn't like the Headmaster is on very good terms with us at the moment."

Skuld snorted gently. "That's an understatement if I ever heard one. So, find some charms that will do the job that will fit with the local magic? Teach them to Frank Longbottom?"

"And Sirius, and Remus," Belldandy added, "we'll also need to pass something on for the school nurse so that they can try to find any long-term side effects from this attempted possession."

"I'll work something up that we can give Frank," Urd said as she returned her gaze to the diary, "what do we do with this in the mean time?"

There was a short period of silence that was broken by Skuld. "I'll place it in a secure storage container near the fragment we extracted from Harry. We can always destroy these later if we need to, I'm just worried we may run into our restrictions if we go too far now."

"That's a good idea," Belldandy said brightly, "now let us get to work. Skuld, you secure the diary while I help Urd with the charms we will give to Frank."

* * *

The walk from the Headmaster's office to the DADA Professor's office was not long, but for Dumbledore every foot of it seemed to stretch out for eternity. He had to attend the next session of Lockhart's trial within the next half hour, so even the short walk to see Frank Longbottom felt like an imposition on his time that he could do without. His mood was not helped when he arrived at the Professor's office.

"Sirius? Remus? What brings you here?" Albus half-demanded as he strode through the door. The current Lord Black was definitely not on his current list of friends.

"We think we have a breakthrough in the petrifications problem," Remus said, cutting off any rejoinder Sirius might come up with, "but there's a certain level of secrecy that must be maintained. That's why we're here and not in your office."

The Headmaster thought the matter over as he took a seat. "You're worried about the portraits? You know that they are obliged to follow my commands, I could order them to keep anything we discuss secret."

"That's true," Frank replied, "but we'd much rather limit the number of people – or portraits – who know to an absolute minimum."

"Very well," Albus said as he settled back into his chair, "now I have to be at the Wizengamot in twenty minutes, so let's keep this fast."

Frank nodded and picked up a letter from his desk. "The other day Neville and his friends brought me an enchanted diary that they found abandoned in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Considering the link that place seems to have with the beginning of this mess, they decided to let me handle it."

Dumbledore's brows furrowed as he thought the matter over. "Sensible of them, though I'd expect that from your son. Where is the diary?"

Frank smiled slightly. "I sent it off to some experts for analysis. It is still being looked at right now, but the preliminary results may be useful."

"How so?" Dumbledore asked.

"There are indications that whoever owned the diary may be a parselmouth," Longbottom continued, "which raises the possibility that the basilisk is hiding in a part of the school that is only accessible by parselmouths."

"You're talking about Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, correct?" Remus asked.

Sirius Black snorted. "There's a lot of supposition there. First, we still have no definitive proof that a basilisk is involved. I agree that it is the most likely cause, but there's a different between 'most likely' and 'certain.' What's more, the fact that we found a diary that _might have_ been owned by a parselmouth in Myrtle's bathroom could just be a major coincidence."

Dumbledore frowned at the interjection, but Frank spoke up before he had a chance.

"Yes, but at this point we need to follow any lead we have. So far we've come up with nothing to resolve this situation. We don't know if there is somebody behind this or if it is just a wild creature, we don't even know if there is a creature, and we have no idea as to how to stop it. The only reason we told the student body about the risk of a basilisk was to reduce the risk posed to them should that guess prove to be correct. Even if it is a slim chance, we have to investigate this."

"I agree," Dumbledore put in, "it would be better to find that we were wrong than to dismiss the idea only to find out later that it was correct all along. The only problem is how to use this information."

Remus smiled as he offered a rolled-up parchment to the Headmaster. "We have a charm that can reveal password locked entrances. It's actually a variation of the spell we used to find secret passages back when we were students."

"Remus! No spilling Marauder secrets!" Sirius hissed at his old friend. Albus just smirked as he unrolled the parchment.

"Really, Sirius, did you think that I had no idea about your explorations of the castle? There are few secrets to this old structure that I don't know about," the old man said in a wry tone as he examined the spell detailed on the parchment. While he was more skilled in transfiguration, he could see that the charm described before him was a neat piece of work that should reveal even the most warded entrances.

"Very well, we can use this," the Headmaster said as he glanced at his watch, "but then we're left with the problem of how to open a parseltongue locked door."

"That's where the secrecy come in," Sirius said as he glared at the Supreme Mugwump, "I want an oath from everybody here to keep what I am about to say secret before I go on."

The other wizards present glanced at each other before Remus pulled out his wand. "Very well, if you insist."

As Frank followed suit, Albus sighed and withdrew his own wand. "I think this is unnecessary, but if I must…"

Sirius waited until all three had made their oaths before he continued.

"OK. We have access to a parselmouth. He can open the door for us if we find it."

"Who?" Frank asked, sounding intrigued.

"Harry Potter." Sirius replied, looking at the floor.

There was a moment of silence, which was broken by Remus Lupin.

"I can see why you wanted the secrecy. That one would not go down well in the rest of society."

Frank Longbottom coughed before turning to face Remus directly. "That's an understatement if ever I head one. The Boy Who Lived, a parselmouth? The press would have a field day."

"It would also make him a pariah here at the school," Albus said softly, "you were right, Sirius. This must never become public knowledge."

"I'm glad you agree." Sirius said with what passed for a smile.

"How, though?" Longbottom asked. "I don't know a lot about parseltongue, but I was under the impression that the ability tends to run in families. There's no history of it with the Potters, so where did Harry get it? Lily?"

"No, if there were any wizards or witches in the Evans family tree then we have no records of them," Sirius answered, "Harry's family found out when they visited a zoo and Belldandy noticed him having a conversation with a python. They did some research and found no hint of any parselmouths in Harry's family tree anywhere."

"Any ideas as to how Harry got the ability then?" Remus inquired, "or is it just random happenstance?"

Sirius looked thoughtful. "There is a chance that it was purely random, some fluke of magic that gave Harry the ability," he allowed, "but my guess is that it had something to do with Voldemort's attack."

The usual cringe at hearing the Dark Lord's name passed unnoticed as the group considered Sirius' words.

"That is possible, I suppose," Dumbledore said after some thought, "but we may never know for sure. In the meantime, do we have a plan for what we do next? I have to leave for the Wizengamot shortly."

"You can use my floo, Headmaster," Frank said, gesturing to his fireplace, "but for now we have only a preliminary plan. We propose searching the school using that charm to find any hidden entrances. If we find one that is unknown to even the Marauders," Longbottom smirked at Sirius and Remus, both of whom attempted to look innocent, "then we'll investigate further. We'll only bring Harry in once we're sure that we have something with a parseltongue password. Until then we'll leave him out of it."

Albus nodded as he rose to his feet. "A sound idea. How will you conduct the search with the students around?"

The DADA Professor stood up and escorted the Headmaster to the floo. "We were going to start at the locations where petrifications happened and move out from there. That way, we should be able to keep students away from the areas we are searching, plus we're hoping it'll speed things up."

"A good idea," Dumbledore said as he took a pinch of floo powder, "but for now, my duties to the Wizengamot beckon. Good day, gentlemen."

* * *

"Any reason why we are doing this while Dumbledore is stuck overseeing Lockhart's trial?" Frank Longbottom asked as he entered Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

"Two reasons, actually," Sirius replied as he cast a series of charms on the door to the bathroom after Remus closed it, "the first being expediency. I'd rather get this done sooner rather than later, and I see no point in waiting for the Headmaster when we can do this ourselves."

"And the other reason?" Frank inquired as he cast a few privacy charms.

Sirius grinned as he responded, "To be honest, I didn't want him around to mess things up. Dumbledore's actions since 1981 have given me cause to doubt his motives."

Professor Longbottom gave Sirius a measured glance before he turned his attention to the rest of the room. "Shall we get on with it, then? The charm didn't reveal anything outside where Filch's cat was found, this is the closest room to that spot."

"Certainly," Remus said as he pulled out his wand and began to cast. As he finished, one of the sinks glowed with a reddish light. The three wizards all stared at it.

"Well, I wasn't expecting a positive result this quickly," Remus commented as he walked over to the glowing sink, "there's definitely a concealed entrance here with some sort of password."

"Do we know that it requires parseltongue?" Frank asked, "This castle has no shortage of password protected entrances."

Sirius cast another charm, this one provided by Skuld. The glow around the sink changed from red to purple.

"Huh. Well if Skuld is correct, then that means we have a parseltongue password here," Sirius observed.

Remus glanced at Frank, catching his attention. "I checked over Skuld's notes on the charm, I'm convinced that it is reliable."

Frank nodded. "Well, so far so good. Now to find out what's behind this entrance. I just hope that this is what we're looking for, and that isn't the private hideaway of some random parselmouth."

"That would be just our luck," Sirius said with a sigh, "we'll find dozens of these things around the castle, the result of centuries of Slytherins wanting to hide their evil schemes."

Remus snorted. "If any of them were like you, Sirius, I'd bet that if we did find any they'd all be private bedrooms."

Frank coughed to cover up a laugh. "There may be some truth to that. Let's get out of here and see if we can arrange to get Harry up without anyone noticing."

* * *

Harry regarded the bathroom that he had been escorted to. Professor Longbottom had interrupted his Charms class and pulled Harry out after a quiet conversation with Professor Flitwick. When Harry had asked about the interruption, Professor Longbottom had simply told him that an explanation would be offered once they had reached their destination. This had turned out to be Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, a location Harry felt had been far too prominent in his life at Hogwarts this year. The promised explanation had included input from Sirius and Remus, along with a request to help open the magical entrance they had discovered.

"I'll try," Harry said after some consideration, "but what am I supposed to say? Is there a password or would any parseltongue word do it?"

Frank glanced at his colleagues, who shrugged. "We don't know. Start with simple words or expressions that you might say if you wanted something to open."

Harry looked at his DADA Professor for a moment, before he turned to the sink that Remus said was where the magic indicating an entrance was centred.

" _OK, now what could I say that would make this thing open?"_ Harry said in parseltongue, not noticing the involuntary shivers that the adults in the room all shared, when suddenly the sink moved. As the group stared incredulously, an entrance opened revealing what seemed to be a steeply sloped passageway.

"What did you say to get it to open, Harry?" Remus asked once he had recovered from the surprise.

"I just said 'OK, now what could I say that would make this thing open?' in parseltongue." Harry replied.

Sirius put a hand over his eyes. "Let me guess, the password was simply 'open' in parseltongue."

Frank sighed deeply. "That would just take the cake, wouldn't it? The founder who valued ambition and cunning above all, using 'open' as his password to protect his fabled Chamber of Secrets."

Remus coughed gently. "Yes, well, how many other parselmouths were around back then?"

The other three nodded. Frank then turned to Harry. "You better get going. It is too late to go back to your Charms class, so wait in your Common Room until lunch."

"Wait," Sirius interjected, "we don't know if there aren't more parseltongue locked barriers ahead. We better have Harry come with us."

Remus shook his head. "No. There's too much risk involved."

Harry gave his pseudo-uncle a hurt look, but Sirius cut in before the Boy-Who-Lived could respond. "Not if we play it safe. Harry, if you come with us you have to promise to do everything we tell you to do promptly and without question. If we tell you to run and get help, you go instantly, OK?"

Harry nodded. At least he would still be involved.

Sirius pulled out his wand and cast a patronus charm that disappeared out the door. "I just sent that along to Skuld. I want here with us for this, considering that it was her charms that allowed us to find this entrance to begin with."

"Fine," Frank replied, "then we'll wait for Skuld to get here. Until then, I have some dragonhide vests in my office that I think we should all wear before going forward."

"I'll get a rooster while we're at it," Remus put in, "best to be prepared."

"Speaking of which, I'll get some Mandrake Draught as well," Remus added.

* * *

Frank Longbottom examined the tunnel they had arrived in at the bottom of what had felt like an impossibly long slide. He was not happy with what he could see of the state of the stonework.

"I think we must be under the lake," Remus said to Skuld as they compared notes on the chute they had just slid down, "we're certainly a long way down. I think we have to assume that this is related to Slytherin's Chamber, I can't think of anyone else who could have constructed something this elaborate under Hogwarts."

"By the look of this tunnel, it would fit," Frank said as he pulled out his wand, "the stonework looks very old."

"What are you casting?" Sirius asked as Frank began to apply charms to the walls of the tunnel.

"Reinforcement charms," Frank replied as he finished, "during the war against the Death Eaters, a common trick they used when we raided their bases was to collapse the buildings on top of us while they retreated. Shield charms aren't much use against tons of falling masonry, so we developed charms that would reinforce structures like this. It should keep everything intact for the next few weeks, even if there's an earthquake."

"Good to know," Skuld said as she rummaged through the backpack she had brought along, "now everybody should wear one of these."

The group examined the odd items that Skuld handed them. Harry was reminded of some military night vision goggles he had once seen on a TV show.

"What are these?" Remus asked after it became apparent that no one else was willing to break the silence.

"Protective goggles," Skuld explained, "they use mirrors similar to how a periscope works. That way if there is a basilisk around here and you catch its gaze, you should only get petrified."

Sirius grinned as he put the goggles on, adjusting the strap to make it fit snugly. "Only petrified, she says. You know it's a bad day when petrification is the better option."

Skuld put her own goggles on as she continued her explanation. "I added other charms, like light amplification, thermal imaging and stuff like that. I thought about other features but this is all I could get done in time."

"It's enough," Frank stated as he finished adjusting the straps on his goggles, before turning to help Remus, "it shows more foresight than any of us managed."

With Skuld's goggles in place, the group proceeded to walk down the tunnel. Frank Longbottom periodically cast his reinforcement charm, even taking the time to teach the others how it was cast. Eventually they reached a wall that had two entwined serpents carved onto it.

"Another barrier," Remus said in a low voice, "similar to the previous one, perhaps?"

"Let me try," Harry said confidently before he continued in parseltongue, _"open!"_

The serpents moved apart as the wall opened up, revealing a dimly lit chamber beyond.

"Huh. I'm going to hazard a guess that this is Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets," Sirius commented as the group looked into the large area, "though he obviously never discovered the secret of good taste. Just look at the décor in there!"

Skuld grinned as she withdrew her wand. "Let's check for basilisks before we go any further."

The rest of the group watched attentively as Skuld cast the charm effortlessly. There was an immediate positive result, which caused the adults to tense.

"OK, that means there's a basilisk around here, doesn't it?" Sirius asked Skuld, who just nodded in reply. "Any idea where?"

Skuld walked a short distance from where she had been and cast the charm again. After examining the results, she walked back to the group.

"It looks like it is somewhere in or behind that large statue over there," Skuld said, gesturing towards the far end of the chamber.

"What statue? I can't see a thing from here," Remus asked, clearly puzzled.

"Oh, sorry," Skuld said, blushing slightly, "I turned on my night vision enhancement already, maybe you should do the same."

After everyone had followed Skuld's suggestion, they all saw a large statue of a wizard that was standing against the back wall of the chamber.

"That's Salazar Slytherin, if the pictures that we have of him are anything to go by," Frank commented as they all examined the statue from the entranceway, "can anyone see any obvious entrances for a basilisk?"

"No," Remus replied, "I think we'll have to risk it and get closer. Got that rooster ready?"

"Sure," Frank said, gesturing to the covered birdcage that he had strapped on like a backpack, "just take off the cover and cast a Lumos charm and it should crow almost immediately."

The group approached the statue and examined it carefully. There were no obvious entrances or doors.

"Maybe password protected like the previous two?" Remus asked before he cast the detection charm. The whole statue lit up as he did so. "Well, no points for variation."

" _Open,"_ Harry hissed in parseltongue again, but this time there was no response.

"You tried 'open' again, didn't you?" Frank asked Harry, who nodded back. "I guess Slytherin must have put up something different, but figuring it out could take forever."

"Do we need to open this thing up? Could we just amplify the rooster and get it to crow out here?" Sirius inquired.

Skuld scratched her chin as she thought it over. "We can't be sure that the basilisk could hear it even with a Sonorous charm. I think we have to figure out how to open this thing up."

Frank decided to take charge. "OK, the four of us will have a look around and see if we can find anything that might indicate how to open this thing," he said, gesturing to Harry, Remus and Sirius, "Skuld, you're the closest thing we have to an expert of parseltongue related charms right now, see what you can learn from the statue itself."

As Skuld started to cast numerous charms at the statue, the rest of the party quickly split up and searched the chamber by quarters. It quickly became apparent that any decoration that Salazar Slytherin might have left behind had deteriorated over the centuries.

"I'm guessing that any preservation charms that old Slytherin might have used wore out ages ago," Sirius commented to Remus as they briefly approached each other during their searches, "without regular reapplication even the best charms have an expiration date."

Remus nodded and was about to reply when there was a cry from Harry. "I think I've got something!"

Sirius, Remus and Frank raced over to see what Harry had discovered. The second-year student held up an aging piece of parchment.

"It was over by that pillar," Harry explained, pointing to where he had found the parchment, "it looks like somebody was exploring this place years ago and was trying to find the same password that we are looking for."

Frank looked thoughtful for a moment before he snapped his fingers. "Fifty years ago. The incident that got Hagrid expelled. It never made sense for it to be his pet acromantula, but it would fit for a basilisk."

The other three looked baffled. "Hagrid was expelled?" Harry asked.

Frank sighed before he explained. "When the petrifications started I read up on the history of Hogwarts to try and find any similar cases. The only thing that stuck out was an incident roughly fifty years ago. A student was killed in the bathroom we passed through – Moaning Myrtle is the ghost of that student. Hagrid had a pet acromantula and was accused of being responsible. The problem is that there were no obvious bite marks on Myrtle that would indicate an acromantula attack. But a direct gaze from the basilisk would make perfect sense."

Remus frowned in thought as he considered the tale. "I think I remember something about that. Didn't some student make the accusation, rather than the staff?"

"Yes," Frank replied, "it was the Head Boy at the time. Tom Riddle."

Sirius' eyes widened as Remus nodded. "That's where I remember it from. There was a trophy for Tom Riddle in the trophy room, I had to clean it by hand many times thanks to this reprobate."

Remus' jibe went unnoticed by Sirius, who seemed to have gone slightly pale. "Voldemort," Sirius whispered.

He was immediately the focus of attention for the group. "What was that?" Frank asked.

"Voldemort," Sirius repeated, "I got it out of Dumbledore after I was released from Azkaban. Voldemort's real name was Tom Riddle."

Frank shook his head slowly as the connections fell into place. "And Voldemort claimed to be the heir to Salazar Slytherin, and was a known parseltongue. Now it makes sense. He must have found this chamber when he was a student and figured out how to release the basilisk. When Myrtle was killed he had to cover his tracks, so he used Hagrid and his acromantula as a scapegoat. Even as a teenager, he was an evil git."

The other three nodded, before their attention returned to the parchment Harry had found. "I think we should read Riddle's notes carefully," Remus commented.

Harry handed the parchment over to his pseudo-uncle, who held it up for the group to see. Sirius quickly pointed to a line that had been underlined near the bottom of the parchment.

"Looks like he came to a conclusion there," Sirius noted. The others nodded.

"It's worth a try," Frank said, "though, really? 'Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four.' Just how large was Salazar's ego?"

"Large enough that this chamber probably wasn't big enough for it," Remus answered wryly, garnering a grin from Sirius. "Let's re-join Skuld and see if this works."

In short order they were with Skuld again. Frank quickly explained what they had found, as well as their conclusions regarding the incident from fifty years before.

"It's worth a try," Skuld commented as she looked at the parchment, "though we should plan for what we do if this brings a basilisk out into the chamber."

Frank looked around and quickly came up with a plan. "We'll all hide behind the closest pillars. I'll get the cage on the ground and ready to go at a moment's notice. Harry, you try that phrase from behind the pillar first. If it doesn't work from there get closer. If it looks like it worked, get behind the nearest pillar as fast as you can. Don't hesitate, just run. If the basilisk emerges, I'll cast a Lumos and get the rooster to crow. If the basilisk stays in its lair, we'll consider getting closer."

The others nodded and quickly moved behind the pillars Frank had indicated. Frank placed the bird cage on the ground and uncovered it, revealing a rather grumpy looking rooster. Once he had his wand out and ready, Frank waved to Harry.

" _Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."_ Harry hissed as loudly as he could. He was immediately rewarded with a low sound of moving rock.

"Success," Remus said, looking out around his pillar, "the mouth of the statue is opening. It's a big entrance, be prepared."

" _Master?"_ Harry suddenly heard from the direction of the statue.

" _Who are you?"_ Harry hissed back.

" _You are not the Master! Intruders are to die!"_

Harry gulped. "I think that was the basilisk, and it's angry! It's coming right for us!"

There was a loud thump from near the statue that sounded awfully like a large creature landing heavily. Frank decided that he had waited long enough and cast a Lumos in front of the rooster. The bird promptly started crowing.

The chamber was filled with a ghastly howl and the sound of some huge creature thrashing about the stone floor. Eventually it stopped.

"Do you think it is dead?" Sirius asked, breaking the silence that had gripped the chamber.

"There's only one way to find out," Skuld replied, "one of you have a look."

"What if the basilisk is still alive?" Sirius asked, sounding slightly panicked.

"Then your goggles will mean that you only get petrified, and we have Mandrake Draught with us already." Skuld answered.

"Is the gaze still dangerous after the basilisk is dead?" Harry asked.

"No," Frank said, "we'll be safe enough provided that it is dead."

"Fine," Sirius muttered as he stepped out from behind his pillar, "I'll do it."

After a moment, the others were relieved when they heard Sirius' voice again. "There's a huge snake here, and it looks very dead to me. I think you can all come out now."

The group emerged from behind their pillars and joined Sirius in examining the giant snake corpse.

"Definitely a basilisk," Skuld observed as she looked it over.

"Sure, but look at the size of that thing," Remus commented, "this must be the largest on record."

"Well, it is no longer a threat," Frank decided, "what was it that you were hissing earlier, Harry?"

Harry gulped sightly as everybody's attention turned to him. "I heard somebody asking for a master. I just asked who it was. It then said I wasn't the master, and that intruders had to die."

"Looks like whoever was ordering this thing about didn't want anybody else interfering," Sirius said as he considered the whole affair, "still, job done. So, who gets to tell the Headmaster?"

Frank groaned as he finally pulled off his goggles. "I think that's my job. He is my boss at the moment, after all."

* * *

 **Author's notes:** This one took far too long. My apologies to everyone who was waiting, assuming you all haven't given up on this. All I can say is that I hit some nasty writer's blocks (yes, plural) in the writing of this chapter.

Next time: winding up Harry's second year, now that the basilisk is dead before the end of January. I have decided that "Circle of Light" will also cover Harry's third year, so please stay tuned!


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